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AUTHOR: 


PLUTARCHUS 


TITLE: 


PLUTARCH'S  NICIAS  AND 
ALCIBIADES... 

PLACE: 

NEW  YORK 

DA  TE : 

1912 


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EDWARD  DELAY  AN  PERRY 

1854  — 1938 

A.B.  1875,  LL.D.  1904,  Ph.D.  Tubingen  1879 

Jay  Professor  of  Greek  1895-1931 
Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Philosophy  1902-1909 

9iX6^ovoo;  ^v 


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SIX 

OF 

PLUTARCH'S  GREEK   LIVES 

Vol.  III. 


NICIAS  AND  ALCIBIADES 


SIX  OF  PLUTARCH'S  GREEK  LIVES 


HKWLT    TRAHSLATBD     WITH    ntTRODUCTIOH     AUD 

HOTBS   BT 

BERNADOTTE  PERRIH 

Lampson  Professor  (Emeritus)  of  Greek  Litersture 
•nd  History,  Tale  Unirertitj 

L    THEMISTOCLES  AlfD  ARISTIDES 
n.    OMON  AND  PERICLES 
m,   NICIAS  AMD  ALCIBLiDES 


Bach,  One  VoIvsm.  8to ta.oo  n«C 

TkrM  VohHBM  la  •  Box  .......    p«r  set.  S6.00  net 


1 


I 


•••;■•■.< 


PLUTARCH'S 

NICIAS 

AND 

ALCIBIADES 

JVEPVLy  TRANSLATED,  WITH 
INTRODUCTION  AND  NOTES 


BY 

BERNADOTTE   PERRIN 

Lampscn  Prcfesscr  {Emeritus)  of  Greek  Literature  and  History 

Yale  University 


tn 


Scmotique  prius  tarda  neccssitas 
Lcti  corripuit  gradum. 

Horace,  Carm.  i.  3,  32  £. 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

1912 


g8Vl\ 


i 


Copyright^  igi2 
By  Charles  Scsibne&'s  Sons 


Published  October,  19x9 


TO 

THE  MEMORIES 
OF  MY  FRIENDS 

THOMAS  DAY  SEYMOUR 

AND 

JOHN   HENRY  WRIGHT 


•  « 

•  •  • 


•  •  « •  • 
•• •  •  »  » 

*  •  ■    * 


*•  •  •• 


•  • 


t  •  •  •    %  • 
*•  "• »   .  •  »  •  • 

•  •  •  • « 


* 


•  « 


» * 


Plutarch  occupies  a  unique  place  in  literature  as  an 

encyclopaedia  of  Greek  and  Roman  antiquity.     Whatever 

is  eminent  in  fact  or  in  fiction,  in  opinion,  in  character,  in 

institutions,  in  science  —  natural,  moral,  or  metaphysical, 

drew  his  attention  and  came  to  his  pen  with  more  or 

less  fulness  of  record.    He  is,  among  prose-writers,  what 

Chaucer  is  among  English  poets,  a  repertory  for  those  who 

want  the  story  without  searching  for  it  at  first  hand, — 

a  compend  of  all  accepted  traditions.  ...  It  is  for  his 

pleasure  that  he  recites  all  that  is  best  in  his  reading : 

he  prattles  history. 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 


I 

f 

i 


^»H- 


CONTENTS 

Page 
Preface ix 

Introduction  : 

I.    Primary  Sources  for  Greek  History  during  the 

Peloponnesian  War    •   •    .   •    • 1 

n.    Chronological  Table  of  Events  in  the  Lives 

OF  NiCIAS  AND  AlCIBIADES 12 

III.  The  Sources  of  Plutarch  in  his  NiciASy  with 

AN  Analysis  of  this  Life ^    .   .   .   .      29 

IV.  The   Sources   of  Plutarch   in  his  Alcibiades, 

with  an  Analysis  of  this  Life 39 

The  NICIAS 55 

The  ALCIBIADES Ill 

Notes  on  the  Nicias ,  171 

Notes  on  the  Alcibiades < 257 

Index «  331 


V  'I 

3 


PREFACE 


n 


This  volume  is  independent  of  the  two  volumes  which  have 
preceded  it,  the  *' Themistocles  and  Aristides"  (1901)  and  the 
'*Cimon  and  Pericles'*  (1910),  except  that  I  have  allowed  my- 
self in  it  an  occasional  reference  to  its  predecessors.  I  could 
not  well  repeat,  however,  the  essays  on  "Plutarch  the  Biogra- 
pher", and  "  Biography  before  Plutarch  ",  from  the  first  volume. 
I  should  be  glad,  of  course,  to  have  my  readers  know  these 
essays,  but  such  knowledge  is  not  essential  to  the  profitable 
use  of  this  third  and  final  volume  of  the  series.  To  set  forth 
my  aims  in  writing  it,  I  may  be  allowed  to  quote  from  the 
Preface  to  the  first  volume :  *'  I  have  had  in  mind  as  possible 
friends  to  be  won  by  it,  first,  all  lovers  of  Plutarch,  whose 
name,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  is  still  legion.  Knowing  how  im- 
possible it  is  to  reproduce  in  English  the  illusive  qualities 
which  distinguish  one  Greek  style  from  another,  they  will 
commend  my  work  of  translation  if  it  brings  out  clearly  the 
spirit  of  Plutarch  as  a  writer  of  Lives :  the  easy  and  com- 
fortable movements  of  his  thought ;  his  attitude  toward  men 
who  are  struggling  with  great  problems  of  life  and  destiny; 
his  amiable  weaknesses  as  a  judge  of  historical  evidence ;  his 
relish  for  the  personal  anecdote  and  the  mot ;  his  disregard 
of  the  logic  and  chronology  of  events ;  his  naive  appropriation 
of  the  literary  product  of  others;  his  consummate  art  in 
making  deeds  and  words,  whether  authentic  or  not,  portray 
a  preconceived  character, — a  more  or  less  idealized  character. 
They  will  welcome  my  introductions  and  explanatory  notes 
also,  in  so  far  as  these  enable  the  English  reader  to  reproduce, 
even  though  faintly,  the  atmosphere  of  boimtiful  literary 
tradition  which  Plutarch  amply  breathed  before  and  as  he 


X  PREFACE 

wrote.  It  should  be  possible,  in  some  degree,  at  least,  for 
the  student  of  these  notes  and  introductions  to  penetrate,  as 
it  were,  into  the  very  studio  of  the  greatest  of  ethical  portrait- 
painters,  and  watch  him  mix  his  colors  and  apply  them  to 
the  canvas." 

I  have  had  in  mind  also  all  students  and  lovers  of  Greek 
history.  For  the  lives  of  Nicias  and  Alcibiades,  it  is  true, 
Plutarch  does  them  less  important  service  than  for  those  of 
Themistocles,  Aristides,  Cimon,  or  Pericles,  inasmuch  as  for 
the  life  of  Nicias  and  most  of  that  of  Alcibiades,  Thucydides 
son  of  Olorus  is  a  full-flowing  and  incomparable  source,  and 
Plutarch  had  no  advantage  over  us  in  the  control  of  this 
source.  But  even  here  the  biographer  supplements  the  his- 
torian in  a  most  welcome  manner.  He  had  access  to  many 
other  testimonies  contemporary,  or  as  good  as  contemporary, 
with  those  of  Thucydides,  testimonies  which  often  take  us 
back  among  the  conflicting  currents  of  opinion  which,  with 
ever  increasing  frequency,  swept  over  the  excitable  democracy 
of  imperial  Athens.  He  cites  comic  poets,  tragedians,  orators, 
Platonic  and  Socratic  dialogues,  and  above  all,  for  the  Sicilian 
expedition,  Philistus  of  Syracuse,  an  eyewitness  of  many  of 
the  events  of  the  great  siege.  Then  there  is  a  wealth  of 
secondary  testimony,  like  that  of  the  later  rhetorical  his- 
torians, and  masses  of  anecdotes  and  apothegms  which  had 
gathered  in  luxuriant  growth  round  such  names  as  those 
of  Themistocles,  Pericles,  and  Alcibiades,  to  all  of  which 
Plutarch  is  heir  by  legacy  of  long  literary  tradition.  No 
analysis  of  his  brilliant  literary  mosaics  which  the  conscien- 
tious historian  may  feel  called  upon  to  make  in  a  search  for 
residual  truth,  can  destroy  their  charm  as  idealized  ethical 
portraits.  There  is  no  reason  why  one  should  not  enjoy  this 
charm  while  realizing  the  truth  which  it  overlies. 

I  have,  of  course,  used  all  the  standard  histories  of  Greece 
in  the  preparation  of  my  notes  and  introductions,  but  feel 
a  special  indebtedness  to  Busolt's  Oriechisehe  Geschichte, 
VoL  III.,  and  to  Freeman's  History  of  Sicily.  Ivo  Bruns* 
Literarisches  Portraet  der  Griechen  has  again,  as  in  the  first 


PREFACE 


XI 


two  volumes  of  the  series,  been  of  constant  service ;  and  I 
ought  not  to  leave  unmentioned  Bury's  Ancient  Greek  His- 
torians,  Cornford's  Hiucydides  Mythistoricus,  Holden's  edition 
of  the  Nicias  in  the  Pitt  Press  Series  (Cambridge,  1887),  and 
Baehr's  edition  of  the  Alcibiades  (Leipsic,  1822).  Much 
comment  'takes  the  form  of  citations  from  Thucydides, 
Xenophon,  and  Pausanias.  These  I  have  made  in  the  standard 
translations  of  Jowett,  Dakyns,  and  Frazer,  with  the  kind 
permission  of  the  Oxford  University  Press,  and  of  the 
Messrs.  Macmillan  &  Co. 

As  regards  the  criticism  of  the  Greek  text,  I  have,  as  in 
the  two  preceding  volumes  of  the  series,  merely  noted  any 
essential  variation  between  the  Sintenis  and  Bekker  texts 
where  one  is  preferred  over  the  other,  as  well  as  any  departure 
from  both.  The  excellent  Codex  Seitenstettensis  furnishes 
no  readings  of  importance  for  the  Nicias,  and  none  at  all 
for  the  Alcibiades. 

As  I  send  this  volume  to  the  press,  I  find  that  my  thoughts 
are  more  than  usually  inclined  to  dwell  on  the  aid  and  com- 
fort which  my  work  long  drew  from  intimate  companionship 
with  the  two  friends  to  whose  memories  I  am  permitted 
to  dedicate  it 

B.  P. 

New  Ha  yen,  April,  1912. 


INTRODUCTION 


L  PRIMARY  SOURCES  FOR  GREEK  HISTORY 
DURING  THE  PELOPONNESIAN  WAR 

For  the  twenty-seven  years  of  the  Peloponnesian  war, 
431-404  B.  c,  we  have  richer  and  more  trustworthy  sources 
than  for  any  other  period  of  Greek  history,  and  within  these 
years  fell  the  active  careers  both  of  Nicias  and  Alcibiades. 
For  these  years  important  inscriptions,  more  or  less  fragmen- 
tary, are  preserved,  containing  popular  decrees,  state  treaties, 
official  budgets  and  inventories,  not  to  speak  of  purely  dedi- 
catory or  memorial  inscriptions.  These  reenforce,  amplify, 
and  sometimes  correct  our  literary  sources  for  the  period. 
And  our  literary  soiu-ces  are  abundant,  varied,  and,  from  the 
fact  of  their  being  largely  contemporary,  in  the  highest 
degree  valuable. 

Four  of  the  seven  extant  tragedies  of  Sophocles,  and  eleven 
of  the  fifteen  of  Euripides,  were  either  written  or  performed 
during  the  years  of  the  Peloponnesian  war,  and  often,  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  they  reflect  or  even  voice  the 
political  and  spiritual  agitations  of  their  day.  But  what 
tragedy  could  do  only  indirectly  and  suggestively,  Athenian 
comedy  of  this  time  did  with  powerful  directness  and  plain- 
ness. The  comic  poets  **  delighted  in  finding  matter  for  ridi- 
cule  in  all  that  was  most  admired,  whether  in  public  morals, 
poUtics,  or  art  and  letters.  Exaggeration,  gross  exaggeration, 
was  the  basis  of  their  success,  but  beneath  their  exaggeration 
there  had  to  be  a  real  foundation  of  truth  to  make  their  ex- 
aggeration successful  And  when  it  is  remembered  that 
comedy  arose  in  connection  with  a  rural  religious  festival, 
and  like  tragedy  was  part  of  the  worship  of  Dionysus  the 
Lord  of  Life,  the  Lord  of  Death,  and  the  Great  Inspirer,  it  is 


s 


INTRODUCTION 


not  impossible  to  think  of  the  Attic  drama,  with  its  two 
vehicles  of  tragedy  and  comedy,  as  in  great  measure  answer- 
ing in  power,  as  an  organ  of  public  opinion,  to  the  modern 
pulpit  and  press.  When,  however,  Attic  tragedy  or  comedy 
is  brought  into  evidence  as  historical  documents,  these  docu- 
ments must  be  carefully  studied  in  the  light  of  their  origin 
and  purpose.  To  have  been  unsparingly  and  continuously 
attacked  and  ridiculed  by  the  comic  poets,  *  of  whom  to  be 
dispraised  were  no  small  praise,'  does  not  make  Pericles  less 
of  a  statesman  or  Euripides  less  of  a  poet.  It  points  rather 
to  their  real  greatness  in  new  and  fruitful  lines  of  endeavor  ** 
(Introduction  to  the  Cimon  and  Pericles,  pp.  54  f.).  And 
this  must  be  borne  in  mind  when  we  form  our  estimates  of 
such  butts  of  Old  Comedy  as  Cleon  and  Hyperbolus,  the  dem- 
agogues, as  well  as  in  the  cases  of  Pericles  and  Nicias. 
No  less  than  nine  of  the  eleven  extant  comedies  of  Aristoph- 
anes, the  king  of  Old  Comedy,  were  brought  out  between  the 
years  425  and  405,  and  eight  of  them,  aside  from  all  their 
literary  and  artistic  values,  have  the  force  and  worth  of  viva- 
cious political  pamphlets.  But  Aristophanes  was  only  one 
of  many,  and  every  year's  Dionysiac  festivals  brought  out 
half  a  dozen  prize  comedies,  many  of  which  were  awarded  a 
higher  place  than  those  of  Aristophanes,  although  none  of 
them  have  come  down  to  us.  So  virulent  did  the  attacks  of 
comedy  become  that  the  efficiency  of  men  in  public  office  was 
seriously  impaired  by  them,  and  more  than  once  the  **  freedom 
of  the  press  "  had  to  be  curtailed  by  popular  decrees. 

From  three  of  the  elder  orators,  Antiphon,  Andocides,  and 
Lysias,  we  have  speeches,  or  fragments  of  speeches,  composed 
and  delivered  during,  or  shortly  after  this  period.  The  first 
was  an  uncompromising  oligarch ;  the  second  a  renegade  oli- 
garch and  truckling  democrat ;  the  third  an  uncompromising 
democrat.  All  shades  of  political  opinion  are  therefore  repre- 
sented in  their  speeches,  and  in  setting  values  on  their  his- 
torical testimonies,  their  characters  and  personal  experiences 
must  be  duly  weighed,  as  well  as  the  bias  of  the  special 
pleader  or  the  retained  advocate. 


PRIMARY  SOURCES 


From  Isocrates  also,  who  was  bom  a  few  years  before  the 
Peloponnesian  war,  and  felt,  as  a  young  man,  the  influence  of 
Socrates  and  the  Sophists,  we  have  part  of  an  oration  (xvL, 
De  bigis)  written  for  the  younger  Alcibiades,  which  is  devoted 
to  a  general  and  warm  defence  of  the  career  of  the  elder  Al- 
cibiades, who  had  been  attacked  and  slandered  in  the  speech 
of  the  plaintiff  prosecuting  his  son.  The  oration  was  prob- 
ably written  in  397-396  B.C.,  although  the  period  which 
Isocrates  most  represents  is  that  of  380-338,  and  since  its 
author  elsewhere  expressed  his  admiration  for  the  genius  of 
Alcibiades,  the  praise  here  bestowed  upon  him  cannot  be  as- 
cribed merely  to  the  zeal  of  an  advocate  at  law.  It  was  about 
two  years  later  that  Lysias  wrote  a  speech  (xiv.)  for  a  plain- 
tiff prosecuting  the  younger  Alcibiades  on  a  charge  of  military 
desertion.  "  Both  bear  striking  witness  to  the  hatred  felt  for 
the  memory  of  the  elder  Alkibiades  in  the  early  years  of  the 
restored  democracy.  Here,  denunciations  of  the  father  fill 
about  one-half  of  the  speech  against  the  son ;  there,  the  son 
devotes  more  than  three-fourths  of  his  address  to  a  defence 
of  his  father.  The  speech  Against  Alkibiades  ascribed  to 
Andokides,  but  probably  the  work  of  a  late  sophist,  indirectly 
illustrates  the  same  feeling ;  being,  in  fact,  an  epitome  of  the 
scandalous  stories  about  Alkibiades  current  at  the  same  pe- 
riod" (Jebb,  Attic  Orators,  L  p.  250). 

The  speech  of  Andocides  "  On  the  Mysteries ",  and  the 
spurious  oration  "Against  Alcibiades"  attributed  to  him, 
will  be  more  fully  discussed  in  the  current  notes. 

The  political  writings,  in  prose  and  verse,  of  Critias,  the 
leading  spirit  among  the  "  Thirty  Tyrants  "  (404-403),  were 
of  pronounced  oligarchical  and  Laconian  tendencies,  and  ridi- 
culed the  democracy  of  Athens  and  its  leaders.  But  the  frag- 
ments which  have  come  down  to  us  are  few,  and  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  works  had  any  prevailing  influence  on  historical 
tradition.  Much  more  important  is  the  oligarchical  pamphlet 
which  Aristotle  used  so  generously  in  his  Constitution  of 
Athens,  and  by  using  sanctioned.  Whoever  the  writer  was, 
he  was  clearly  in  sympathy  with  the  moderate  wing  of  the 


4  INTRODUCTION 

oligarchical  party  as  represented  by  Theramenes,  and  traced  a 
history  of  the  growth  of  democracy  at  Athens  in  a  severely 
hostile  vein.  It  was  an  able,  but  specious  plea  for  a  lim- 
ited and  circumscribed  democracy.  Theopompus  also,  as 
well  as  Aristotle,  made  use  of  it  in  the  tenth  book  of  his  HeU 
lenica  (see  p.  33).  Another  nameless  oligarch,  somewhat 
earlier  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  fifth  century  b.  c,  pictures 
the  democracy  of  Athens  after  the  death  of  Pericles,  in  the 
treatise  on  the  Constitution  of  Athens  which  has  been  pre- 
served for  us  among  the  writings  of  Xenophon.  All  the  ex- 
cesses and  follies  of  that  democracy  are  treated  with  relentless 
severity.  But  it  is  democracy  itself,  and  not  those  who  made 
it  what  it  was,  which  this  oligarch  despises.  "  Given  that  a 
democratic  form  of  government  has  been  agreed  upon,  they 
do  seem  to  me  to  go  the  right  way  to  preserve  the  democracy 
by  the  adoption  of  the  particular  type  which  I  have  set  forth  " 
(iii.  1,  Dakyns*  translation). 

Much  of  this  material  —  inscriptions,  tragedies,  comedies, 
orations,  and  political  pamphlets  —  must  have  been  accessible 
and  known  to  the  great  historian  of  the  Peloponnesian  war, 
Thucydides,  and  his  work,  so  far  as  he  lived  to  complete  it, 
has  come  down  to  us  entire.     "  The  Peloponnesian  war  ",  says 
Professor  Bury  {Hist,  of  Oreece,  ed.  in  one  vol.,  pp.  397  ff.), 
"  has  had  an  advantage  which  has  been  granted  to  no  other 
episode  in  the  history  of  the  world.     It  has  been  recorded  by 
the  first  and  greatest  of  all  critical  historians.      To  read  the 
book  which  Thucydides,  the  son  of  Olorus,  has  bequeathed  to 
posterity  is  in  itself  a  liberal  education ;  a  lesson  in  politics 
and  history  which  is,  as  he  aimed  to  make  it,  *  a  possession 
for  ever.* ....  It  must  be  granted  that  the  incidents  of  the  war 
would  lose  something  of  their  interest,  that  the  whole  episode 
would  be  shorn  of  much  of  its  dignity  and  eminence,  if  Thu- 
cydides had  not  deigned  to  be  its  historian.      But  it  was  not 
a  slight  or  xmworthy  theme.     For  it  is  the  story  of  the  decline 
and  fall  of  the  Athenian  empire,  and  at  this  period  Athens 
is  the  centre  of  ecumenical  history.      The  importance  of  the 
war  is  not  impaired  by  the  smallness  of  the  states  which  were 


PRIMARY  SOURCES   /  fi 

involved  in  it.  For  in  these  smaU  states  lived  those  poUtical 
ideas  and  institutions  which  concerned  the  future  develop- 
ment of  mankind  far  more  than  any  movements  in  barbarous 
kingdoms,  however  great  their  territory." 

It  was  the  spectacular  attempt  of  the  Oriental  Persian  em- 
pire to  conquer  the  Aegean  basin  which  engaged  the  Homeric 
genms  of  Herodotus ;   Thucydides  depicts  the   struggle  of 
Athens  to  maintain  her  empire  of  the  Aegean  basin,  and  he 
does  It  as  a  contemporary  and  participant     An  imperial 
democracy  was  a  new  thing  in  the  world's  experience,  as 
was  the  historical  treatment  of  contemporary  events.  Current 
events  had  been  chronicled  in  time  relations  merely  by  Hel- 
lanicus,  but  Thucydides  was  the  first  to  apply  to  them  the 
laws  of  cause  and  effect,  and,  whatever  his  exceUencies  or 
defects,  he  was  the  founder  of  historical  science  as  we  now 
understand  it,  the  creator  of  historical  criticism,  the  discoverer 
of  Its  laws,  and  the  first  teacher  of  the  art  of  writing  history. 
The  foremost  modem  historian  of  antiquity  caUs  him  the 
mcomparable  and  unequaled  teacher  of  this  art; ;  but  there 
are  strong  voices  of  dissent  to  such  high  praise.    Those  who 
dissent  from  such  praise  often  faU  to  consider  sufficiently 
the  exceedingly  narrow  limits  which  Thucydides  imposed  upon 
himseU ;  and  those  who  agree  with  and  echo  it  are  often 
blind  to  the  inadequacies  of  Thucydides  even  within  his 
self-imposed  limits. 

"Thucydides,  an  Athenian,"  —  so  begins  his  great  work 
«  wrote  the  history  of  the  war  in  which  the  Peloponnesians 
and  the  Athenians  fou^t  against  one  another.  He  began 
to  write  when  they  first  took  up  arms,  believing  that  it  would 
be  great  and  memorable  above  any  previous  war.  For  he 
aigued  that  both  states  were  then  at  the  full  height  of  their 
military  power,  and  he  saw  the  rest  of  the  HeUenes  either 
Biding  or  intending  to  side  with  one  or  the  other  of  them. 
No  movement  ever  stirred  Hellas  more  deeply  than  this  •  it 
was  shared  by  many  of  the  Barbarians,  and  might  be  ^d 
even  to  affect  the  world  at  large"  (Jowett's  translation). 
He  began  to  write,  that  is,  when  it  broke  out,  the  history  of 


6 


INTRODUCTION 


a  great  war,  not  a  history  of  Athens  or  of  the  Peloponnesian 
states ;  not  a  history  of  Hellenic  culture  or  of  Athenian 
democracy ;  not  a  description  of  unknown  countries,  except 
as  absolutely  necessary,  or  of  unknown  peoples  and  customs ; 
not  personal  descriptions  or  anecdotes  of  private  life,  —  Ion 
of  Chios  and  Stesimbrotus  of  Thasos  could  do  that,  — but  a 
war  history.  And  even  in  writing  a  war  history  his  aim 
would  not  be  to  please  and  entertain,  as  Herodotus  did,  but 
to  instruct  "  If  he  who  desires  to  have  before  his  eyes  a 
true  picture  of  the  events  which  have  happened,  and  of  the 
like  events  which  may  be  expected  to  happen  hereafter  in 
the  order  of  human  things,  shaU  pronounce  what  I  have 
written  to  be  useful,  then  I  shall  be  satisfied.  My  history 
is  an  everlasting  possession,  not  a  prize  composition  which  is 

heard  and  forgotten." 

The  man  who  spoke  with  this  new  note  of  self-repression 
and  scientific  purpose,  was,  at   the  time,  about  thirty-five 
years  old,  belonging  by  descent  to  a  princely  family  of 
Thrace,  as  Cimon  had,  and  possessed  of  rich  estates  in  that 
country.     He  was  highly  educated  after  the  manner  of  the 
best  Sophists,  and  doubtless  found  Anaxagoras  an  intellect- 
ual father,  as  Pericles  did.     He  was  emancipated  from  the 
undue  authority  of  tradition  and  custom,  and  given  to  logical 
analysis  and  criticism.    His  intellectual  processes,  that  is, 
were  distmctly  modern.     That  he  took  active  part  in  public 
affairs  before  the  year  424,  may  be  safely  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  in  that  year  he  was  made  one  of  the  ten  Strategi, 
or  generals,  — the  highest  office  under  the  Empire.  Assigned 
to  command  on  the  coast  of   Thrace,  he  failed  to  prevent 
Brasidas  from  capturing  Amphipolis,  the  northern  jewel  of 
the  Empire,  and  was  in  consequence  banished  on  pain  of 
death.    His  purpose  to  write  a  history  of  the  war,  however, 
was  not  thwarted  by  this  misfortune.     Indeed,  it  may  rather 
be  inferred  that  he  now  had  the  leisure,  as  he  had  long  had 
the  means  and  the  disposition  to  continue  the  history  which 
he  had  begun  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  431.    **  The  same 
Thucydides  of  Athens ",  he  writes  (v.  26),  "  continued  the 


!| 


(  -1 


PRIMARY  SOURCES  7 

history  up  to  the  destruction  of  the  Athenian  empire.  For 
twenty  years  I  was  banished  from  my  coimtry  after  I  held 
the  command  at  Amphipolis,  and  associating  with  both  sides, 
with  the  Peloponnesians  quite  as  much  as  with  the  Athen- 
ians, because  of  my  exile,  I  was  thus  enabled  to  watch  quietly 
the  course  of  events,  and  I  took  great  pains  to  make  out  the 
exact  truth." 

It  is  safe  inference  that  this  banished  Athenian  spent 
much  of  his  time  on  his  estates  in  Thrace,  and  that  he 
travelled  much,  where  it  was  allowed  him  to  travel,  in  the 
prosecution  of  his  enquiries.  He  returned  to  Athens  in  404, 
after  the  war  was  over,  and  began  to  put  his  material  into 
final  form.  Eight  years,  perhaps,  were  employed  in  this  task, 
when  death  overtook  him  before  its  completion.  His  work, 
therefore,  unlike  that  of  Herodotus,  is  a  torso.  Seven  of  the 
twenty-seven  years  during  which  Athens  was  fighting  to 
maintain  her  empire,  find  no  record  in  what  has  come  down 
to  us  from  Thucydides,  and  the  last  of  the  eight  books  into 
which  the  extant  material  has  been  judiciously  divided  by 
ancient  critics,  plainly  lacks  the  author's  final  revision.  But 
three  distinct  manners  are  clearly  to  be  distinguished  in 
what  we  have  of  the  work, — a  philosophic  manner,  as  in 
the  first  book ;  an  annalistic  manner,  as  in  the  greater  part 
of  the  second,  third,  fourth,  fifth  and  eighth  books ;  and  an 
episodic  manner,  as  in  the  story  of  the  campaign  at  Pylos 
and  Sphacteria,  or  of  the  siege  of  Plataea,  or  the  major 
story  of  the  Sicilian  expedition.  All  these  three  manners 
are  characterized  by  a  dramatic  method  which  projects  events 
and  persons  as  it  were  upon  a  stage,  and  leaves  the  fall  of 
the  Athenian  empire  to  be  acted  out  there.  Apparently,  but 
only  in  appearance,  the  author  pronounces  few  judgments 
on  men  and  events,  leaving  them  for  the  judgment  of  his 
readers.  His  detachment,  in  all  three  manners,  has  certainly 
never  been  surpassed.  An  oligarch  by  political  conviction, 
to  whom  an  extreme  democracy  was  **  manifest  folly  ",  he  yet 
gives  us  a  sympathetic  and  spirited  picture  of  the  Athenian 
democracy  under  Pericles,  in  which  inherent  weaknesses  are 


4 

•Hi 


i 


8 


INTRODUCTION 


not  suffered  to  obscure  pure  and  lofty  ideals.  An  Athenian 
to  the  core,  he  never  belittles  Spartan  nobility  and  greatness, 
but  gives  us  in  his  portrait  of  Brasidas  a  character  hardly 
second  to  that  of  Pericles.  An  admirer  of  the  Athenian 
empire,  a  participant  in  its  honors,  and  stimulated  to  literary 
activity  by  its  splendor,  as  Herodotus  had  been  by  that  of 
the  Persian  empire,  he  uncovers  with  relentless  hand  the 
greed  and  cruelty  which  marked  its  growth,  culmination, 
and  decline.  In  historical  philosophy  the  best  modem 
historians  may  well  surpass  him,  especially  as  the  apprecia- 
tion of  economic  laws  is  a  modem  acquisition^  But  in 
candor,  fidelity,  analytic  and  episodic  power,  and  above  all 
in  personal  detachment  from  persons  and  events,  it  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  he  remains  unsurpassed. 

The  intermpted  task  of  Thucydides  was  completed,  actually 
if  not  formally,  by  Xenophon,  who  tried  to  follow  his  methods 
and   continue  his    spirit,  but   succeeded  with  only  a  faint 
success.     The  words  of  Grote  are  familiar:  "It  is  at  this 
point   that  we  have   to   part  company  with  the   historian 
Thucydides.  .  .  .  The   full   extent  of   this  irreparable  loss 
can  hardly  be  conceived.  ...  To  pass  from  Thucydides  to 
the  Hellenica  of   Xenophon,  is  a  descent   truly  moumful; 
and  yet,  when  we  look  at  Grecian  history  as  a  whole,  we 
have  great  reason  to  rejoice  that  even  so  inferior  a  work  as 
the  latter  has  reached  us."     We  have,  indeed,  great  reason 
to  rejoice.     Xenophon  was   bom   with   the  Peloponnesian 
war ;  was  a  boy  when  the  "  Clouds "  of  Aristophanes  was 
produced ;  a  youth  when  the  news  of  the  Sicilian  disaster 
came ;  a  young  man,  and  a  disciple  of  Socrates  when  Athens 
felL    His  life  and  his  works  show,  as  Croiset  says,  what  the 
Socratic  education  could  produce  in  a  nature  which  was 
healthy,  moral,  active,  reasonable,  somewhat  ordinary,  and 
rather  happily  balanced  than  really  superior.     His    father 
was  a  rich  landed  proprietor,  and  a  knight.     The  son  was 
therefore  naturally  of  aristocratic  or  oligarchical  sympathies, 
like  Thucydides.    Unlike  Thucydides,  he  was  also  partial  to 
Spartan  institutions. 


PEIMARY  SOURCES 


9 


Under  the  triumphant  democracy  which  followed  the 
short  power  of  the  "  Thirty  Tyrants  ",  Xenophon  was  ill  at 
ease,  and  welcomed  the  invitation  of  his  guest-friend,  Prox- 
enus  the  Boeotian,  to  attach  himself  to  the  expedition  which 
Cyrus  the  Younger  was  preparing.  Socrates  warned  him 
that  in  doing  so  he  was  likely  to  incur  the  enmity  of  his 
fellow  citizens,  since  Cyrus  had  persistently  aided  Sparta  to 
her  triumph  over  Athens.  But  Xenophon  cunningly  sur- 
mounted the  objections  of  the  Master,  and  set  out  for  Sardis. 
He  accompanied  Cyrus  "  neither  as  a  general,  nor  as  an  offi- 
cer, nor  yet  as  a  private  soldier,  but  simply  on  the  invitation 
of  an  old  friend**, — a  sort  of  literary  attachS,  Fifteen 
months  of  the  most  romantic  adventure  followed,  during 
which  Xenophon,  according  to  his  own  fascinating  story 
in  the  Anabasis,  became  the  leading  spirit  among  the  Ten 
Thousand  mercenary  Greeks  of  Cynls,  and  conducted  them 
from  the  heart  of  Asia  out  to  the  Euxine  sea,  then  to  Thrace, 
and  from  there  into  Asia  Minor,  where  they  were  merged  in 
the  forces  of  the  Spartan  general  Thimbron,  at  war  with 
Tissaphemes  and  Phamabazus  the  Persian  Satraps.  When 
the  Spartan  king  Agesilaus  came  out  to  conduct  the  war, 
Xenophon  attached  himself  to  him,  and  became  his  intimate 
companion.  When  Agesilaus  was  recalled  to  Greece  by  a 
threatening  coalition  against  Sparta,  Xenophon  accompanied 
him,  and  in  the  battle  of  Coroneia  fought  with  the  Spartans 
against  Thebans  and  Athenians.  Banishment  from  Athens 
probably  followed,  if  it  had  not  already  preceded  this  devotion 
to  his  country's  enemy,  but  in  392,  two  years  after  Coroneia, 
the  devotion  was  richly  rewarded.  Scillus,  a  town  of  Elis 
long  desolate,  was  seized  and  colonized  by  Sparta,  and  here 
in  a  rich,  well  watered  and  well  wooded  valley,  the  Lacon- 
izing  Athenian  was  recompensed  for  the  loss  of  his  estates 
in  Attica.  Here,  hard  by  the  road  leading  from  Sparta  to 
Olympia,  where  Spartan  friends  would  readily  find  him, 
Xenophon  lived  for  twenty  years  an  ideal  coimtry  gentle- 
man's life,  combining  the  practices  of  religion,  the  cultivation 
of  the  soil,  a  delightful  family  and  home  experience,  excel- 


10 


INTRODUCTION 


lent  sport,  and  extensive  authorship  in  a  rare  blend.  And 
here,  in  all  probability,  the  first  two  books  of  his  ffeMenica, 
which  contain  (L  l-ii  2)  the  story  of  the  seven  concluding 
years  of  the  Peloponnesian  war  left  untouched  by  Thucydides, 
were  written.  No  other  account  of  these  years  by  a  contem- 
porary, as  Xenophon  was,  has  come  down  to  us ;  and  later 
writers,  like  Ephonis  and  Theopompus,  who  make  Xenophon's 
work  the  basis  of  their  own,  add  very  little  to  it  that  has 
intrinsic  value.  His  Hellenica  was  his  only  strictly  his- 
torical work,  and  the  first  two  books,  much  superior  to  the 
rest,  although  they  lack  the  vigor  and  precision  of  Thucyd- 
ides, the  richness  and  depth  of  his  political  philosophy, 
have  more  elegance,  ease,  and  graceful  vivacity  than  his 
work  can  show,  and  constitute,  as  we  may  grant  with  Croiset, 
**  une  belle  oeuvre  d'histoire  ". 

Like  Xenophon,  Philistus,  the  historian  of  Sicily,  was  bom 
with  the  Peloponnesian  war,  but  at  Syracuse.  As  Xenophon's 
youth  and  young  manhood  coincided  with  the  events  which, 
as  an  exile  from  his  country  in  later  years,  he  described  in 
the  first  two  books  of  his  ffellenica,  so  Philistus  witnessed  as 
youth  and  young  man  the  events  of  the  Athenian  siege  of 
Syracuse,  and  described  them  thirty  years  later  during  his 
exile  in  Magna  Graecia,  in  his  Stcelica.  Nothing  but  insig- 
nificant fragments  of  his  works  have  come  down  to  us,  and  we 
are  forced  to  form  our  estimate  of  him  from  the  judgments 
of  antiquity.  These  unite  in  denying  him  the  highest  rank 
as  a  historian,  although  Plutarch  ranges  him  along  side  of 
Thucydides.  He  imitated  Thucydides  in  method  and  style, 
but  though  he  surpassed  his  model  somewhat  in  clarity,  was 
far  beneath  him  in  vigor  and  power  (imitator  Thucydidis  et 
ut  multo  infirmior  ita  aliquatenus  lucidior,  Quintilian,  x.  1, 
74).  Cicero  called  him  a  **  miniature  Thucydides "  (paene 
pusillus  Thucydides).  He  was  far  from  imitating  the  calm 
impartiality  of  Thucydides,  being  a  lover  and  flatterer  of 
tyrants  and  tyranny.  In  his  description  of  the  siege  of 
Syracuse,  he  undoubtedly  used  the  story  of  Thucydides, 
but  he  was  able  to  add  minor  items  of  interest  and  value 


PRIMARY  SOURCES 


11 


from  the  Syracusan  standpoint.    Many  of  these  appear  in 
the  Nieias  of  Plutarch,  and  give  it  a  unique  valua 

Plato,  like  Xenophon  and  Philistus,  was  bom  with  the 
Peloponnesian  war.  He  must  therefore,  as  boy,  youth,  and 
young  man,  have  had  personal  recollections  of  the  events 
and  men  of  the  later  periods  of  the  war.  But  Plato  was 
essentially  a  poet  and  dramatist,  using  the  prose  of  dialogue 
as  his  means  of  expression  for  an  idealistic  philosophy,  and 
even  in  his  earlier  dialogues  he  takes  great  liberties  with  his 
historical  settings  and  details.  Still,  he  evidently  aimed  at  a 
certain  degree  of  dramatic  verisimilitude,  so  much  at  least  as 
was  needful  for  the  best  artistic  effects.  We  may  therefore 
use  with  due  caution  the  historical  material  indirectly  fur- 
nished by  such  dialogues  as  the  Laches,  the  Protagoras,  and 
the  Symposium,  in  which  Nieias  and  Alcibiades  appear  as  par- 
ticipants. There  was  a  well  established  tradition  in  Socratic 
circles  that  Socrates  had  distinguished  himself  as  a  soldier, 
and  won  a  prize  for  bravery,  which  he  preferred  to  have  be- 
stowed upon  Alcibiades.  Of  so  much  we  may  be  reasonably 
certain.  But  in  what  battle  the  prize  was  won,  and  imder  ex- 
actly what  circumstances,  we  may  not  feel  so  sure.  In  these 
matters  Plato  probably  allowed  his  fancy  to  disport  itself 
more  or  less.  In  such  a  dialogue  as  the  First  Alcibiades, 
the  authorship  of  which  is  uncertain,  and  in  the  dialogues  of 
the  later  Socratics,  there  is  clearly  even  less  attempt  at  his- 
torical accuracy.  As  in  the  allusions  of  Old  Comedy,  so  in 
the  historical  materials  of  the  Platonic  and  Socratic  dia- 
logues, we  must  seek  for  the  historical  residuum,  and  not  be 
disappointed  if  it  is  indefinite  and  meager. 

Pasiphon  of  Eretria,  in  the  first  half  of  the  third  century 
B.  c,  seems  to  have  busied  himself  with  the  composition  of 
Socratic  dialogues,  which  he  attributed  to  immediate  dis- 
ciples of  Socrates  like  Aeschines  and  Phaedo.  Such  a  dia- 
logue was  the  Nieias,  from  which  Plutarch,  or  his  immediate 
source,  draws  much  material  concerning  the  daily  life  and 
conversation  of  Nieias  (chape,  iv.  and  v.).  In  this  dialogue, 
the  artistic  verisimilitude  so  much  desired  in  biographical 


-'"♦•t*?- 


;^2  INTRODUCTION 

details  must  have  been  secured  by  reference  to  good  contem- 
porary  or  historical  sources  for  the  private  Ufe  of  Nicias, 
such  as  the  comic  poets,  and,  possibly,  Theopompus,  who  un- 
doubtedly  drew  from  the  comic  poets  himself.  In  this  way 
so  late  a  document  as  the  Nicias  of  Pasiphon,  like  Ans- 
totle's  Constitution  of  Athens,  came  to  have  something  of  the 
value  of  a  primary  and  contemporary  source.  See  the  Trans- 
actions  of  the  American  FhUological  Association,    xxxul, 

pp.  139-149.  .       ^    .        A 

«  We  know,  too,  that  Alcibiades  was  a  favonte  thesis,  and 
that  at  least  five  or  six  dialogues  bearing  that  name  passed 
current  in  antiquity,  and  are  attributed  to  contemporanes  of 
Socrates  and  Plato"  (Jowett,  Plato,  ii.  p.  417). 

Such  are  our  primary  sources  for  the  history  of  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian  war,  and,  incidentally,  for  the  Uves  of  Nicias  and 
Alcibiades.  They  are  not  only  primary,  but  m  the  mam 
contemporary  sources,  and  constitute  a  historical  apparatus 
of  unequaled  dignity,  value,  power,  and  charm. 

n.  CHEONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE 
LIVES  OF  NICIAS  AND  ALCIBIADES 

It  is  impossible  to  date  precisely  the  birth  of  either  Nicias 
or  Alcibiades,  but  when  Pericles  died,  in  429  b.  c,  Nicias 
was  already  a  man  of  poUtical  influence,  and  had  served  as 
general  (Nicias,  ii.  2).   He  must  therefore  have  been  at  least 
thirty-five  years  old.    Alcibiades,  the  cousin  and  ward  of 
Pericles,  could  not  have  been  far  from  twenty.    It  will  an- 
swer aU  practical  purposes,  then,  if  this  table  mclude  the 
principal  events  of  Athenian  history  between  the  years  461 
and  404     In  the  former  year,  Pericles  became  the  leadmg 
man  at  Athens ;  in  the  latter,  Alcibiades  was  put  out  of  the 
way  by  the  emissaries  of  Phamabazus.    From  461  down  to 
the  outbreak  of  the  Peloponnesian  war  in  431,  only  the  more 
salient  events  will  be  noted,  and  in  larger  outlme ;  from  431 
onward,  through  the  active  careers  of  Nicias  and  Alcibiades, 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


13 


the  table  will  be  full  enough  to  render  unnecessary  any  fur- 
ther sketch  of  the  history  of  the  Peloponnesian  war.  Owing 
to  the  great  work  of  Thucydides  and  the  continuation  of  that 
incomplete  work  by  Xenophon,  the  period  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesian war  is  the  best  known  and  most  familiar  one  in 
Greek  history. 

461-450  B.  c.  Athens  at  war  with  Peloponnesian  states  and 
Persia.  Pericles  is  the  leading  man  at  Athens. 
In  456,  Athens  is  at  the  acme  of  her  power.  In 
454,  the  great  Athenian  armament  in  Egypt  is 
destroyed,  and  the  treasury  of  the  Delian  League 
is  removed  from  Delos  to  Athens.  In  450,  a 
five  years*  truce  is  made  between  Athens  and 
Sparta. 
450-446.  Nominal  peace  between  Athens  and  Sparta.  The 
war  with  Persia  continues  imtil  Cimon's  death  in 
449  and  the  so-called  **  Peace  of  Callias ''  in  448. 
Thucydides  son  of  Melesias  succeeds  Cimon  as 
leader  of  the  conservative  and  aristocratic  party 
in  opposition  to  Pericles  (Nicias,  ii.  2).  In  447, 
Boeotia  revolts  from  Athens,  and  the  Athenians 
are  defeated  in  the  battle  of  Coroneia  (Ale,  L  1). 
About  this  time,  Damon  (Damonides),  the  friend 
and  teacher  of  Pericles,  is  ostracised  (Nicias,  vi. 
1).  In  446,  Euboea  and  Megara  revolt  from 
Athens,  and  a  Peloponnesian  army  invades  At- 
tica, led  by  Pleistoanax,  the  youthful  king  of 
Sparta. 
445-431.  In  445,  Athens  renounces  supremacy  on  land  to 
Sparta  in  a  thirty  years'  peace.  In  444-443,  the 
pan-Hellenic  colony  of  Thurii  in  Italy  is  founded 
(Nicias,  v.  2).  In  442,  Thucydides  son  of  Mel- 
esias is  ostracised,  and  Pericles  becomes  supreme 
in  power.  In  440-439,  Samos  revolts  from 
Athens,  and  is  subdued  (Nicias  a  general  with 
Pericles  and  Sophocles  ?  Nicias,  xv.  2).  In  436, 
a  colony  is  successfully  founded  at  Amphipolis, 


14  INTRODUCTION 

on  the  river  Strymon,  in  Thrace.  In  435,  hostil- 
ities begin  between  Corinth  and  Corcyra.  In  433, 
Athens  forms  a  defensive  alliance  with  Corcyra, 
and  Athenian  ships  take  part  in  a  battle  between 
Corinthians  and  Corcyraeans.  In  432,  Potidaea, 
on  the  Chalcidic  peninsula,  revolts  from  Athens, 
is  aided  by  Corinth,  and  besieged  by  the  Athe- 
nians (^/c,  vii.  3).  A  congress  of  Peloponnesian 
allies  at  Sparta  votes  for  war  with  Athens. 

431-421,  Peloponnesian  War,  First  Period 
431-430,  First  Year  (spring,  summer,  autumn,  and  winter, 
April  to  April). 
Plataea,  an  allied  city  of  Athens,  is  surprised  and 
taken  in  a  night  attack  by  Thebans,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  spring;  a  Peloponnesian  army  invades 
and  devastates  Attica,  retiring  in  midsummer; 
while  this  army  is  still  in  Attica,  an  Athenian 
fleet  makes  a  predatory  voyage  around  the  coasts 
of  Peloponnesus ;  after  the  departure  of  the  Pel- 
oponnesian army,  the  Athenians  expel  the  Aegi- 
netans  and  take  possession  of  their  island;  in 
the  autumn,  the  Athenian  fleet  returns  and  co- 
operates with  the  army  in  an  invasion  and  devas- 
tation of  Megara ;  in  the  early  winter,  Pericles  is 
appointed  to  deliver  the  funeral  oration  over  the 
citizens  who  had  fallen  during  this  year. 

430-429,  Second  Year. 

In  the  spring,  Pericles  is  reelected  general  for  the 
twelfth  consecutive  time  since  the  ostracism  of 
Thucydides;  early  in  the  summer,  a  Pelopon- 
nesian army  invades  and  devastates  Attica  for  the 
second  time;  the  great  plague  breaks  out  and 
rages  in  Athens  (Nicias,  vi  3);  an  Athenian 
fleet  for  the  second  time  makes  a  predatory  voy- 
age along  the  coasts  of  Peloponnesus;  in  mid- 
summer, the  Peloponnesian  army  withdraws,  and 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


15 


the  Athenian  fleet  returns ;  public  opinion  turns 
against  Pericles,  and  an  embassy  to  Sparta  sues 
in  vain  for  peace ;  in  the  autumn,  Pericles  is  de- 
posed from  his  command,  tried  for  malversation 
in  ofi&ce,  and  fined  (Nicias,  vi  1);  during  the 
winter,  Potidaea,  which  had  been  under  siege  by 
the  Athenians  for  more  than  two  years,  sur- 
renders. 
429-428,  Third  Year. 

In  the  spring,  Pericles  is  reinstated  in  his  office  of 
general;  in  the  summer,  a  Peloponnesian  army 
begins  the  siege  of  Plataea;  an  expedition  of 
Athenian  hoplites  under  Xenophon  and  two  other 
generals  against  the  rebellious  Chalcidians  is 
nearly  annihilated  (Nicias,  vi  3);  during  the 
summer  and  autiunn,  Phormio  wins  two  brilliant 
naval  victories  over  the  Peloponnesians  in  the 
Corinthian  gulf;  in  the  autumn,  Pericles  dies 
after  a  long  illness. 
428-427,  Fourth  Year. 

In  the  early  summer,  a  Peloponnesian  army  in- 
vades and  ravages  Attica  for  the  third  time ;  an 
Athenian  fleet,  originally  intended  for  the  usual 
voyage  along  the  coasts  of  Peloponnesus,  is  sent 
instead,  as  soon  as  the  Peloponnesians  withdraw 
from  Attica,  against  the  Lesbians,  who  threaten 
revolt,  and  Mitylene  is  blockaded ;  another  fleet 
is  sent  round  Peloponnesus,  in  the  hope  of  de- 
terring the  Peloponnesians  from  attacking  Athens 
by  land  and  sea  while  she  is  occupied  with  the 
revolt  in  Lesbos,  and  accomplishes  its  object ;  in 
the  autumn,  Paches  is  sent  with  reenforcements 
to  Lesbos,  and  by  the  beginning  of  winter,  Mity- 
lene is  completely  enclosed. 
427-426,  Fifth  Year. 

In  the  spring,  a  Peloponnesian  fleet  is  sent  to  the 
aid  of  Mitylene ;  in  the  early  summer,  a  Pelo- 


16 


INTRODUCTION 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


17 


ponnesian  army  invades  and  ravages  Attica  for 
the  fourth  time ;  after  its  withdrawal,  and  while 
the  Peloponnesian  fleet  is  no  further  on  its  way 
than  Delos,  Mitylene  capitulates,  and  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian fleet  returns  home;  Lesbos  is  com- 
pletely subdued  by  Athens,  and  the  principal 
rebels  among  the  Mitylenaeans  are  put  to  death ; 
Nicias  conducts  a  successful  expedition  against 
the  isiland  of  Minoa,  over  against  Megara  (Nicias, 
vL  4) ;  Plataea  surrenders  to  the  Peloponnesians 
and  is  handed  over  to  the  tender  mercy  of  Thebes ; 
Corcyra  is  convulsed  by  bloody  political  feuds 
which  result  in  the  triumph  of  the  democracy 
under  Athenian   support;  in  the  autumn,  the 
Athenians  send  a  fleet  under  Laches  and  Char- 
oeades  to  Sicily,  ostensibly  to  aid  the  Leontines 
in  their  struggle  with  Syracuse ;  during  the  win- 
ter, Paches,  the  conqueror  of  Lesbos,  takes  his 
own  life  while  rendering  the  customary  account 
of  his  campaign  (Nicias,  vL  2). 

426-425,  Sixth  Year. 

In  the  early  summer,  a  Peloponnesian  army  assem- 
bles for  the  invasion  of  Attica,  but  is  disbanded 
in  consequence  of  earthquakes ;  Nicias  conducts 
a  fleet  on  an  expedition  to  Melos,  Thera,  and  the 
shore  regions  of  Boeotia  and  Locris,  devastating 
the  enemy's  territories ;  Demosthenes  conducts  a 
fleet  on  the  usual  predatory  expedition  round 
Peloponnesus,  and  is  drawn  into  a  disastrous 
invasion  of  Aetolia  (Nicias,  vi  3) ;  in  the  au- 
tumn, Demosthenes  partially  redeems  his  failure 
by  saving  Naupactus  and  Acamania  to  Athens ; 
during  the  winter,  on  fresh  appeals  from  Sicilians 
for  aid  against  Syracuse,  the  Athenians  deter- 
mine to  send  in  the  following  spring  a  larger 
fleet  under  Eurymedon,  Pythodorus,  and  Sopho- 
cles, and  Pythodorus  goes  on  in  advance  with  a 


few  ships  to  replace  Laches  in  command,  who 
has  not  been  aggressive  enough. 

425-424,  Seventh  Year. 

In  the  early  spring,  Nicias  conducts  an  architheoria 
to  Delos  with  great  magnificence  (Nicias,  iii); 
in  the  late  spring,  a  Peloponnesian  army  invades 
Attica  for  the  fifth  time ;  the  fleet  under  Eury- 
medon and  Sophocles  sets  out  for  Sicily,  carry- 
ing Demosthenes  on  a  special  errand  and  with 
special  powers ;  in  consequence  of  the  occupation 
and  fortification  of  Pylos  by  the  Athenians  un- 
der Demosthenes,  the  Peloponnesian  army  re- 
tires from  Attica,  and  the  Lacedaemonians  lay 
siege  to  Demosthenes;  during  the  summer,  a 
Lacedaemonian  garrison  on  the  island  of  Sphac- 
teria  is  cut  ofif  and  besieged,  in  consequence  of 
which  a  truce  is  made,  and  Sparta  sues  for 
peace ;  the  suit  is  rejected,  and  in  the  early  au- 
tumn, Cleon  and  Demosthenes  force  the  Lace- 
daemonians on  Sphacteria  to  surrender  (Nicias^ 
vii.  and  viiL  1) ;  the  Athenian  fleet  proceeds  to 
Sicily ;  Nicias  leads  a  predatory  expedition  into 
Corinthian  territory  (Nicias,  vi  4  fif.). 

424-423,  Eighth  Year. 

In  the  early  summer,  Nicias  leads  an  expedition 
against  Cy thera  (Nicias,  vi  4),  occupies  the 
island,  and  then  ravages  the  adjacent  Laconian 
coasts,  and  slays  or  captures  the  Aeginetan  ref- 
ugees in  Thyrea  (Nicias,  vi  6);  the  Sicilian 
cities  make  peace  with  one  another,  and  the 
Athenian  fleet  imder  Pythodorus,  Eurymedon, 
and  Sophocles,  returns  home,  to  the  bitter  dis- 
appointment of  the  party  of  war  and  conquest ; 
in  the  late  summer,  Demosthenes  and  Hypoc- 
rates  make  an  attempt  to  capture  Megara,  which 
is  foiled  by  Brasidas,  although  Nisaea  and  the 
long  walls  are  taken  (Nicias,  vi  4) ;  Brasidas 


1!^ 


^¥ 


18 


INTRODUCTION 


proceeds  to  Thrace  in  order  to  strip  Athens  of 
her  choice  dependencies  there;  in  the  autumn, 
the  Athenian  offensive  against  Boeotia  results  in 
a  disastrous  defeat  at  Delium  (Nicias,  vi  3 ;  Ale, 
viL  4) ;  in  the  early  winter,  Amphipolis  surren- 
ders  to  Brasidas,  and  Thucydides  son  of  Olorus, 
the  Athenian  general  deputed  to  operate  against 
Brasidas,  is  in  consequence  accused  of  treason 
and  banished. 
423-422,  Ninth  Year. 

The  defeat  of  the  Athenians  at  Delium  and  their 
loss  of  AmphipoUs  weighing  about  evenly  in  the 
balance  with  the  Spartan  reverses  in  the  war,  in 
the  early  spring,  a  truce  for  one  year  is  made  be- 
tween Athens  and  Sparta,  during  which  negoti- 
ations for  a  definite  peace  are  to  be  carried  on 
{Nicias,  ix.  5) ;  before  news  of  the  truce  can 
reach  Thrace,  Scione,  on  the  Chalcidic  peninsula, 
goes  over  to  Brasidas,  and  even  after  news  of  the 
truce  comes,  Mende  does  likewise,  and  Brasidas 
will  surrender  neither  town,  so  that  hostilities 
continue  in  Thrace,  though  in  Thrace  only ;  dur- 
ing the  summer,  an  expedition  under  Nicias  re- 
covers Mende  and  completely  invests  Scione 
(Nicias,  vi.  4). 

422-421,  Tenth  Year. 

In  the  early  sprmg,  the  truce  expires,  but  there  are 
no  further  hostilities  on  either  side  except  in 
Thrace ;  early  in  the  autumn,  an  expedition  under 
Cleon  is  sent  by  the  Athenians  to  Thrace, 
and  before  Amphipolis  his  army  is  disastrously 
defeated  by  Brasidas,  but  Brasidas  and  Cleon 
both  lose  their  lives ;  the  two  men  most  eager 
for  the  continuance  of  the  war  being  thus  re- 
moved (Nicias,  ix.),  negotiations  for  a  definite 
peace  are  renewed,  continued  through  the  win- 
ter, and  concluded  at  the  beginning  of  spring. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


19 


for  fifty  years.  The  principal  conditions  are  that 
Sparta  is  to  surrender  to  Athens  Amphipolis,  in 
Thrace,  and  Panactum,  on  the  Boeotian  frontier 
(Nicias,  x.  3;  Ale,  xiv.  4);  the  Athenians  to 
Sparta  Pylos,  Cythera,  and  the  captives  from 
Sphacteria.  In  ten  years  of  war,  that  is,  the  em- 
pire of  Athens  has  been  maintained,  and  the 
prestige  of  Sparta  and  her  confederacy  lowered. 
But  neither  the  Corinthians,  Boeotians,  Megari- 
ans,  nor  Eleans  will  join  Sparta  and  her  other 
allies  in  making  the  peace. 


421-412,  Pkloponnesian  War,  Second   Period 

421-420,  Eleventh  Year  (see  Thucydides,  v.  26). 

Even  before  the  summer,  dissatisfactions  arise  on 
both  sides  because  conditions  on  which  peace 
was  made  in  the  spring  are  not  fulfilled ;  alarmed 
at  the  attitude  of  her  recalcitrant  allies,  Sparta 
makes  a  special  defensive  alliance  with  Athens 
for  herself  alone  (Nicias,  x.  2),  and  thereby  secures 
the  release  of  the  captives  of  Sphacteria  (Nicias, 
X.  7 ;  Ale,  xiv.  5),  although  on  her  part  she  cannot 
surrender  Amphipolis  (Nicias,  x.  3);  a  threat- 
ened coalition  of  Mantinea,  Elis,  Argos,  and  Cor- 
inth against  Sparta  drives  her  to  seek  the  favor 
and  help  of  Argos  at  the  risk  of  offending  and 
losing  Athens;  to  get  possession  of  Panactum, 
which  she  must  surrender  to  Athens,  Sparta 
makes  overtures  to  Boeotia,  which  demands  a 
special  defensive  alliance  like  that  between  Ath- 
ens and  Sparta ;  early  in  the  spring  (March),  the 
special  defensive  alliance  between  Sparta  and 
Boeotia  is  made,  and  the  Boeotians  demolish  the 
waUs  of  Panactum  before  handing  the  place  over 
to  Sparta. 


20 


INTRODUCTION 


420-419,  Twelfth  Year. 

When  knowledge  of  the  alliance  between  Sparta 
and  Boeotia,  and  of  the  demoUtion  of  the  walls 
of  Panactum,  reach  Athens,  the  strength  of  the 
war  party  there  is  increased  (Nicias,  x.  3),  and  it 
is  seen  that  the  war  party  at  Sparta  is  in  the  as- 
cendant ;  Corinth  now  threatens  to  abandon  the 
anti-Spartan  league  and  go  over  to  Sparta,  leav- 
ing the  three  democratic  states  of  Argos,  Man- 
tinea,  and  Elis  in  the  lurch,  unless  they  can  secure 
an  aUiance  with  Athens ;  to  the  securing  of  such 
an  alliance  Alcibiades,  who  is  now  the  most  in- 
fluential opponent  of  the  conservative  Nicias,  di- 
rects his  political  talents ;  while  the  Athenians 
are  enraged  at  Sparta's  continued  failure  to  com- 
ply  with  the  conditions  of  the  treaty,  and  whUe 
one  embassy  from  Argos  is  at  Sparta  negotiating 
for  a  treaty  of  aUiance,  Alcibiades  gets  another 
embassy  sent  to  Athens  from  Argos  with  pro- 
posals  for  alliance  with  Athens  {Nicias,  x.  4; 
Ale.,  xiv.  3);  the  counter-embassy  from  Sparta, 
acting  with  Nicias  and  the  peace  party,  is  dis- 
credited by  a  clever  political  trick  (Nictas,  x. 
4  ff. ;  AK  xiv.  6  ff.),  a^^  ^  midsummer,  Athens 
joins'the  anti-Spartan Peloponnesian  league,  thus 
uniting  the  industrial  and  commercial  democ- 
racy of  Athens  with  the  agricultural  democracy 
of  northern  Peloponnesus;  Corinth  now  sides 
definitely  with  Sparta. 

419-418,  Thirteenth  Year.  ,      .     ,    .  j 

In  the  spring  (March-April),  Alcibiades  is  elected 
one  of  the  generals  (NiciaSy  x.  8 ;  Ale,  xv.  1), 
and  during  the  summer  traverses  northern  Pel- 
oponnesus with  a  small  army,  working  zealously 
in  the  interests  of  the  new  alliance  (at  Patrae, 
Ale  XV.  3),  whUe  Argos  invades  and  devastates 
the 'territory  of  Epidaurus,  an  aUy  of  Sparta; 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


21 


Sparta  twice  starts  to  render  aid  to  the  Epidauri- 
ans,  but  twice  retires,  knowing  that  Athens  is 
now  pledged  to  assist  Argos ;  during  the  winter, 
however,  Sparta  sends  troops  by  sea  to  Epidaurus, 
and  in  retaliation  Alcibiades  prevails  upon  the 
Athenians  to  reestablish  Helots  and  Messenians 
in  Pylos  for  the  devastation  of  Laconian  terri- 
tory (Nicias,  X.  8). 

418-417,  Fourteenth  Year. 

In  the  spring,  the  peace  party  regains  ascendancy, 
and  Nicias  is  elected  general,  with  others  like 
minded,  instead  of  Alcibiades ;  in  the  early  sum- 
mer, the  Lacedaemonians  and  their  allies  open 
operations  against  Argos,  but,  fearful  of  drawing 
Athens  into  war  in  support  of  her  ally,  the 
Spartan  king  withdraws  his  forces  under  a  truce 
of  four  months  with  Argos ;  in  half-hearted  sup- 
port of  her  ally,  Athens  sends  a  small  force  to 
Argos  under  Laches,  accompanied  by  Alcibiades 
as  special  ambassador ;  the  forces  of  the  four 
anti-Spartan  allies  take  the  field,  and  are  deci- 
sively defeated  by  the  Lacedaemonians  in  the 
battle  of  Mantinea,  towards  the  end  of  summer 
(Ak.,  XV.  1) ;  the  victory  restores  the  prestige  of 
Sparta,  and  initiates  a  reaction  against  democracy 
and  in  favor  of  oligarchy  in  Peloponnesus  and 
all  Hellas ;  during  the  autumn  and  winter,  Argos 
and  Mantinea  are  forced  back  into  alliance  with 
Sparta,  and  the  promising  Peloponnesian  policy 
of  Alcibiades  is  wrecked. 

417-416,  Fifteenth  Year. 

In  the  spring,  both  Alcibiades  and  Nicias  are 
elected  generals;  threatened  with  ostracism  in 
his  conflict  with  Nicias,  Alcibiades  secures  the 
ostracism  of  Hyperbolus  (Nicias,  xi. ;  Ale.,  xiii) ; 
during  the  summer,  Nicias  conducts  a  fruitless 
expedition    to    Thrace    (Thuc,  v.   83;  Busolt, 


22 


INTRODUCTION 


Griech,  Gesch.,  iil  p.  1262);  the  oligarchical 
party  in  Argos  is  overthrown,  and  Sparta 
threatens  the  victorious  democracy  in  the  city 
with  war,  whereupon  Athens  and  Argos,  renew- 
ing the  shattered  policy  of  Alcibiades,  make 
another  defensive  alliance,  and  the  Aigives  begin 
the  building  of  long  walls  to  the  sea  (Ale,  xv.  2) ; 
these  are  destroyed  by  the  Lacedaemonians  dur- 
ing the  winter,  but  the  city  is  not  taken. 

416-415,  Sixteenth  Year. 

In  the  spring,  Nicias  and  Alcibiades  are  both 
reelected  generals,  the  former  intent  on  preserv- 
ing peace,  the  latter  on  renewing  war  with  Sparta ; 
whQe  Alcibiades  is  busy  in  Argos,  the  Athenians 
send  an  expedition  against  Melos,  an  island  colon- 
ized from  Laconia ;  the  city  of  Melos  is  enclosed 
with  a  wall  and  closely  besieged ;  at  the  Olympic 
games,  in  the  summer,  Alcibiades  astonishes  the 
Hellenic  world  with  his  victories  and  lavish  ex- 
penditures (Ale,  XL,  xii.);  during  the  winter, 
Melos  capitulates,  and  the  Athenians  kill  the 
male  adults,  and  sell  the  women  and  children 
into  slavery  (Ale,  xvi.  5);  an  embassy  from 
Egesta,  in  Sicily,  seeks  aid  from  Athens  against 
the  Selinuntians  (Nicias,  xii  1),  and  an  Athenian 
embassy  is  sent  to  investigate  the  situation. 

415-414,  Seventeenth  Year. 

In  the  spring,  Nicias  and  Alcibiades  are  both  re- 
elected generals,  and  the  parties  of  peace  and 
war  maintain  their  almost  even  balance;  the 
Athenian  embassy  returns  from  Egesta  with 
glowing  reports,  accompanied  by  fresh  envoys 
from  Egesta  with  alluring  promises ;  a  large  ex- 
pedition to  Sicily  is  voted,  with  Nicias,  Alcibiades, 
and  Lamachus  as  commanders ;  Nicias  makes  a 
vain  attempt  to  dissuade  the  Athenians  from  the 
expedition  (Nicias,  xii.;  Ale,  xviiL  2);  during 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


28 


the  preparations  for  the  expedition,  the  Hermae 
throughout  the  city  are  defaced  by  unknown 
vandals  (Nicias,  L  3 ;  xiiL  2 ;  Ale,  xviiL  3) ;  in 
midsummer,  the  expedition  sets  out,  and  at  length 
establishes  its  base  of  operations  at  Catana ;  early 
in  the  autumn,  Alcibiades  is  recalled  for  trial  on 
the  charge  of  religious  desecration  (Nidas,  xiv. 
4;  Ale,  xx.  2 ;  xxL  5) ;  in  the  late  autumn,  the 
Athenians  land  near  Syracuse  and  defeat  the 
Syracusans  in  battle,  but  withdraw  to  Naxos  for 
winter  quarters  (Nicias,  xvi) ;  during  the  winter, 
on  the  advice  of  Alcibiades  at  Sparta,  the 
Spartans  turn  their  thoughts  towards  the  inva- 
sion of  Attica,  and  decide  to  send  Gylippus  to 
take  command  of  the  Syracusans  (Ale,  Yyiii  2) 
414-413,  Eighteenth  Year. 

Early  in  the  spring  (April),  the  Athenians  make 
a  successful    landing  north  of  Syracuse,  and 
occupy  the  plateau  of  Epipolae,  where  they  for- 
tify themselves  and  proceed  to  enclose  the  city 
with  a  wall  from  sea  to  sea  (Nicias,  xviL); 
Lamachus  falls  in  an  hour  of  victory,  leaving 
Nicias  in  sole  command  {Nicias,  xviiL  1-3);  by 
midsummer,  the  greater  part  of  the  enclosing 
wall  is  completed,  and  the  prospects  of  the  be- 
siegers are  bright  (Nicias,  xviiL  4  f.) ;  towards 
the  end  of  the  summer,  Gylippus  enters  Syracuse 
with   reenforcements,  and  the  Syracusans  take 
the  offensive  (Nicias,  xviiL  6-xix.)  ;  at  about  the 
same  time,  an  expedition  from  Athens  ravages 
the  coast  of    Laconia  and   thereby  definitely 
breaks  the  peace  with  Sparta  (Thuc.,  vL  105) ; 
during  the  autumn,  the  Syracusans  succeed  in 
completing  a  cross  waU  which  makes  the  en- 
closure of  their    city  by  the    Athenian   wall 
impossible  (Ni4:ias,  xix.  6) ;  the  offensive  power 
of  the  Athenians  declines,  and  Nicias  sends  a 


24 


INTRODUCTION 


despondeat  letter  to  the  home  goverament  {Nicias, 
xix.  7) ;  another  armament  under  Demosthenes 
and  Eurymedon  is  voted  for  the  coming  spring 
{NidaSy  XX.  1). 
413-412,  Nineteenth  Year. 

Early  in  the  spring,  the  relief  expedition  under 
Demosthenes  sets  out ;  at  about  the  same  time, 
the  Peloponnesians  invade  Attica,  and  fortify 
Deceleia;  late  in  the  spring,  the  Syracusans 
capture  Plemmyrium,  the  naval  base  of  Nicias, 
but  the  Athenians  are  victorious  in  the  first  great 
naval  battle  in  the  harbor  {Nicias,  xx.  2  f.) ; 
about  midsummer,  the  Athenians  are  defeated  in 
a  second  naval  battle  {Nicias,  xx.  4  f.) ;  shortly 
afterwards,  Demosthenes  arrives  with  the  relief 
expedition  {Nicias,  xxL  1);  late  in  the  summer, 
the  Athenians  suffer  disastrous  defeat  in  a  night 
attack  on  Epipolae,  and  gradually  come  to  favor 
an  abandonment  of  their  positions  {Nicias,  xxi., 
xxiL);  on  August  27th,  an  eclipse  of  the  moon 
delays  their  departure  {Nicias,  xxiii.) ;  early  in 
the  autimm,  the  Athenians  are  defeated  in  a  third, 
and  again,  soon  after,  in  a  fourth  and  decisive 
naval  battle  {Nicias,  xxiv.,  xxv.) ;  two  days  after 
this,  they  set  out  on  their  retreat  to  Catana  by 
land  {Nicias,  xxvL) ;  within  nine  days,  and  about 
the  middle  of  the  autumn,  the  entire  army  of  the 
Athenians  is  either  killed,  scattered  in  flight,  or 
taken  prisoners,  and  Nicias  and  Demosthenes 
are  put  to  death  {Nicias,  xxviL,  xxviiL) ;  tidings 
of  the  catastrophe  make  their  way  to  Athens 
some  time  before  the  beginning  of  winter  {Nicias, 
XXX.);  in  spite  of  their  fear  and  "unutterable 
consternation ",  the  Athenians  determine  under 
no  circumstances  to  give  way,  and  vote  to  build 
a  new  navy,  and  to  make  sure  of  their  allies 
(Thuc,  viii  1). 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


25 


412-404,  Pkloponnesian  War,  Third  Period 

412-411,  Twentieth  Year. 

In  the  spring,  the  greater  allies  of  Athens  plan 
revolt,  with  encouragement  from  Sparta,  and  the 
Chians  obtain  promise  of  assistance  first  {Ale, 
xxiv.  1) ;  in  the  summer,  encouraged  by  the  pres- 
ence in  Ionian  waters  of  a  Lacedaemonian  fleet 
with  Alcibiades  and  a  Spartan   admiral,  Chios 
and  other  allied  cities  revolt  {Ale.,  xxiv.  1) ;  the 
Peloponnesians  enter   into  alliance  with  Tissa- 
phemes  the  Persian  Satrap;  in   the  autumn,  a 
large   Athenian    expedition    sails    into    Ionian 
waters,  punishes  and  besets  the  Chians,  and  de- 
feats the  Peloponnesians  and  rebels  near  Miletus, 
but  on  the  approach  of  another  hostile  fleet  of 
Lacedaemonian  and   Sicilian   ships,  retires   to 
Samos ;  Alcibiades,  on  learning  that  orders  have 
been  sent  from  Sparta  to  kill  him,  betakes  him- 
self to  Tissaphernes  at  Miletus  {Ale,  xxiv.  2  f.) ; 
during  the  winter,  scheming  to  be  recalled  from 
exile,  Alcibiades  puts  himself  into  communica- 
tion with  the  oligarchs  in  the  Athenian  army  at 
Samos,  who  plan  a  revolution  at  Athens,  in  order 
to  get  an  alliance  with  Tissaphernes  through  the 
influence  of  Alcibiades  {Ale,  xxv.,  xxvL  1) ;  the 
Athenian  people  commissions  an  embassy  under 
Peisander  to  confer  with  Tissaphernes  and  Alci- 
biades, but  the  conference  shows  the  promises 
and  pretensions  of  the  latter  to  be  vain  (Thuc, 
viiL  54,  56) ;  the  oligarchs  in  the  army  at  Samos 
now  renounce  all  connection   with  Alcibiades, 
and  send  Peisander  and  others  to  Athens  with 
orders  to  effect  a  revolution  there  and  through- 
out the  empire  (Thuc,  viiL  63,  64). 


26 


INTRODUCTION 


411-410,  Twenty.first  Year. 

In  midsummer,  the  revolution  of  the  Four  Hundred 
at  Athens  is  effected,  and  the  democracy  over- 
thrown (Ale,  xxvi  2);  the  army  at  Samos, 
however,  crushes  the  oligarchs  there,  threatens 
the  revolutionary  government  at  home,  and, 
believing  as  the  oligarchs  had  in  the  influence  of 
Alcibiades  with  Tissaphemes,  recalls  the  exile 
and  makes  him  their  commemder-in-chief  {Ale, 
xxvL  3) ;  in  the  early  autumn,  the  Spartan  fleet 
proceeds  to  the  Hellespont,  where  Byzantium 
and  other  Athenian  allies  have  revolted,  and  is 
followed  closely  by  the  Athenian  fleet  (Ale, 
xxvii.  2);  the  Four  Hundred  are  deposed  at 
Athens  (Ale,  xxviL  1) ;  the  Athenian  fleet  under 
Thrasyllus  and  Thrasybulus  defeats  the  Pelopon- 
nesian  fleet  off  the  promontory  of  Cynossema  in 
the  Hellespont  (Thuc,  viii.  104-106);  in  the 
late  autumn,  a  fierce  naval  battle  off  Abydos  is 
decided  in  favor  of  the  Athenians  by  the  timely 
arrival  of  Alcibiades  (Ale,  xxvii  2'-4) ;  not  long 
after,  Alcibiades  pays  a  visit  to  Tissaphemes, 
who  has  come  up  to  the  Hellespont,  is  seized 
and  imprisoned  in  Sardis  by  the  Satrap,  but 
makes  his  escape,  late  in  the  winter,  and  rejoins 
the  Athenian  fleet  at  Cardia  (Ale,  zxvii.  5; 
xxviiL  1) ;  early  in  the  spring  (March),  the 
Athenian  fleet  under  Alcibiades  utterly  destroys 
the  Peloponnesian  fleet  off  Cyzicus  in  the  Pro- 
pontis  (Ale,  xxviiL). 

410-409,  Twenty-second  Year. 

In  the  spring  (April),  Alcibiades  operates  from  the 
Hellespont  against  Perinthus,  Selymbria,  and 
Byzantium,  in  order  to  obtain  control  of  the 
Bosporus  passage  (Xen.,  HelL  i  1,  21  f.) ;  an 
expedition  is  sent  under  Thrasyllus  to  Ionia, 
which  meets  with  defeat  in  the  summer  (Xen., 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


27 


Bell.  i.  2,  1-10);  in  the  autumn,  Thrasyllus, 
with  his  defeated  troops,  joins  Alcibiades  at 
Sestos  (Ale,  xxix.  1  f.);  during  the  winter,  the 
Athenians  fortify  Lampsacus,  ravage  the  territo- 
ries of  Pharnabazus,  and  lay  si^e  to  Abydos 
(Ale,  xxix.  3). 
409-408,  Twenty-third  Year. 

In  the  spring,  Alcibiades  lays  siege  to  Chalcedon, 
and  defeats  Pharnabazus  in  his  attempt  to  relieve 
the  city  (Ale,  xxx.  1) ;  Alcibiades  goes  back  to 
the  Hellespont  to  raise  troops  for  the  siege  of 
Byzantium,  and  captures  Selymbria  (Ale,  xxx.  2 
ff.) ;  the  Athenians  make  a  treaty  with  Pharnab- 
azus (Ale,  xxxi.  1  f.) ;  during  the  winter,  By- 
zantium is  besieged  and  captured  by  the  Athenians 
under  Alcibiades  (Ale,  xxxi  2  ff.). 
408-407,  Twenty-fourth  Year. 

In  the  spring,  now  that  the  Hellespontine  region  is 
restored  to  Athens,  the  Athenians  prepare  for  a 
renewal   of  their  struggle  to  regain  Ionia,  and 
Alcibiades  sails  to  Samos  (Xen.,  ffell.  i.  4,  8) ; 
chosen  general  at  Athens  with  Thrasybulus  and 
Conon,  Alcibiades  returns  to  his  native  city,  about 
midsummer    (Ale,    xxxii.);    during    his    four 
months'  delay  at  Athens,  preparing  for  the  Ionian 
campaign,  Alcibiades  conducts  the   Eleusinian 
mysteries  in  their  due  order  (Ale,  xxxiv.) ;  late 
in  the  autumn,  Alcibiades  proceeds  with  his  fleet 
to  Samos  (Ale,  xxxv.  1-3)  ;  during  the  winter, 
Lysander,  the  new  Spartan   admiral,  supported 
by  Cyrus,  the  new  Persian  Satrap,  prepares  his 
fleet  for  effective  service,  and  Alcibiades  vainly 
tries  to  draw  him  out  of  the  harbor  of  Ephesus. 
407-406,  Twenty-fifth  Year. 

In  the  spring,  the  fleet  of  Alcibiades,  during  his 
absence,  is  defeated  by  that  of  Lysander  (Ale, 
XXXV.  4-6);   Alcibiades  is  deposed    from  office 


28 


INTRODUCTION 


SOURCES   OF  PLUTARCH'S  NICIA8 


29 


and  new  generals  are  appointed,  ten  in  number 
{Alc,^  xxxvL  1-3) ;  during  the  ensuing  summer 
and  winter,  the  operations  on  both  sides  are 
desultory. 
406^05,  Twenty-sixth  Year. 

In  the  spring,  Callicratidas,  the  admiral  appointed 
from  Sparta  in  place  of  Lysander,  takes  command 
of  the  Peloponnesian  fleet  at  Ephesus  (Xen.,  Hell, 
L  6,  1  fif.);  early  in  the  summer,  Callicratidas 
operates  against  Lesbos,  defeats  Conon,  the  Ath- 
enian commander,  and  shuts  him  up  in  the  har- 
bor of  Mitylene ;  with  all  the  energies  of  despair 
the  Athenians  fit  out  a  fleet  for  the  relief  of  Conon, 
which  sets  out  about  midsummer  (Ibid.,  L  6,  16 
-25) ;  off  the  islands  called  Aiginusae,  in  the  late 
summer,  the  Athenians  win  a  decisive  victory 
over  Callicratidas,  who  loses  his  life  in  the  battle 
(Ibid.,  L  6, 26-33)  ;  during  the  autumn,  the  Ath- 
enian generals,  who  had  not  cared  sufficiently  for 
their  dead  and  wounded  in  the  battle,  are  tried 
and  executed  (Ibid.,  L  6,  34 — 7, 35) ;  Cyrus  and 
the  Ionian  cities  favoring  Sparta  demand  the  re- 
turn of  Lysander  as  Spartan  admiral  (Ibid,,  il 

1,  6). 
405-404,  Twenty-seventh  Year. 

In  the  spring,  Lysander  is  sent  out  by  the  Spartan 
authorities  in  virtual,  though  not  technical  com- 
mand of  the  Peloponnesian  fleet  (Xen.,  ffell,  il 
1,7);  both  sides  spend  the  summer  in  preparations 
for  a  decisive  battle ;  Lysander  suddenly  proceeds 
to  the  Hellespont,  where  he  takes  Lampsacus 
(Xen.,  ffell.  ii.  1,  17-19);  the  Athenians  follow 
him  and  take  position  at  Aegospotami,  over  against 
Lampsacus  (Ale,  xxxvi  4-5) ;  early  in  the  au- 
tumn, Lysander  destroys  the  Athenian  fleet,  and 
then,  during  the  winter,  blockades  the  Piraeus 
(Ale,,  xxxviL  1-3). 


404-403,  Twenty-eighth  Year. 

In  the  early  spring  (April),  Athens  capitulates 
(Ale.,  xxxviL  3) ;  the  thirty  oligarchs  appointed 
by  the  Assembly,  under  the  influence  and  fear  of 
Lysander,  to  draft  a  new  constitution,  usurp  and 
hold  power  at  Athens  from  the  summer  of  404 
to  the  spring  of  403,  when  they  are  defeated  and 
deposed  by  the  exiles  under  Thrasybulus  (Xen., 
ffell.  ii.  3, 1—4,  23);  they  are  tools  of  Lysander, 
and  cooperate  with  him  in  securing  the  death  of 
Alcibiades,  whose  continued  influence  would  be 
fatal  to  their  plans  (Ale,  xxxviiL). 


IIL  THE  SOURCES  OF  PLUTARCH  IN  HIS  NICIAS, 
WITH  AN   ANALYSIS  OF  THIS  LIFE 

Of  the  twenty-two  pairs,  or  "  books  ",  of  Plutarch's  Parallel 
Lives  which  have  come  down  to  us,  the  first  twelve,  with 
then*  approximate  order  of  composition,  can  be  determined 
with  tolerable  certainty.  Among  these,  the  Themistocles- 
Camillus  pair  occupied  the  second  place,  the  Aristides-Cato 
Major  pair  the  eleventh  place,  the  Cimon-Lucullus  pair  the 
third  place,  and  the  Pericles- Fabius  Maximus  pair  the  tenth 
place.  The  seventh  place  was  given  to  the  Lysander-Sulla 
pair,  a  fact  of  interest  in  the  study  of  the  Alcibiades,  which 
has  considerable  material  common  also  to  the  Lysander,  Of 
the  Niciasr-Crassus  and  the  Alcibiades-Coriolanus  pairs,  it  is 
expedient  to  say  only  that  they  were  composed  after  the 
first  twelve  pairs,  and  in  the  relative  order  of  their  mention. 
They  represent,  therefore,  the  great  biographer's  maturest 
work.  See  the  Introduction  to  the  Themistocles  and  Aris- 
tides,  p.  9. 

Plutarch's  Introduction  to  the  Nicias  (chap,  i)  has  no 
such  grace  and  charm  as  that  to  the  Cimon,  or  even  that  to 
the  Pericles,  but  it  throws  a  clear,  and  a  very  unusual  light 
on  the  question  of  the  sources  used  in  the  composition  of 


1 


80 


INTRODUCTION 


SOURCES  OF  PLUTARCH'S  NICIAS 


31 


the  Life^  and  the  maimer  of  their  use.  Thucydides  and 
Philistus,  the  historian  of  the  Peloponnesian  war  and  the 
historian  of  Sicily,  are  to  be  used  as  the  principal  and  most 
authoritative  sources,  without,  however,  needlessly  repeating 
their  matchless  and  familiar  stories.  To  the  material  sup- 
plied by  these  writers  as  a  basis  for  the  LifCy  Plutarch  prom- 
ises to  add  details  which  he  has  collected  from  writers  making 
casual  references  to  facts  in  the  career  of  Nicias,  or  from  an- 
tiquarian treatises  giving  inscriptions  on  votive  offerings  or 
in  public  decrees.  Thucydides  and  Philistus  were  not  biog- 
raphers of  Nicias,  but  historians,  for  whom  the  Sicilian  ex- 
pedition was  a  major  episode.  Their  stories  Plutarch  will 
condense  and  combine,  with  the  special  aim  of  illustrating 
the  "  nature  and  disposition  "  of  Nicias,  and  to  such  conden- 
sation and  combination  he  will  add  sundry  details  which  he 
has  collected  from  other  sources,  again  exercising  his  discre- 
tion in  using  only  such  as  will  illustrate  the  character  of 

his  hero. 

It  has  been  clearly  shown  by  Busolt  (Hutarchs  Nihim  und 
PhUistos,  Hermes,  xxxiv.  (1899),  pp.  280  ff.)  that  the  precise 
program  here  laid  down  by  Plutarch  is  not  mere  literary 
mannerism,  cloaking  the  use  of  a  biography  of  Nicias  al- 
ready made  to  hand,  wherein  condensation  and  combination 
of  Thucydides  and  Philistus,  as  well  as  the  collection  of  sun- 
dry additional  details,  have  already  been  done  for  Plutarch, 
only  to  be  adopted  and  adapted  by  him  for  his  purposes ; 
but  that  the  biographer  has  done  exactly  what  and  as  he 
promised  to  do. 

«« The  tale  of  the  struggle  between  Athens  and  Syracuse  ,•• 
says  Freeman,  **  has  been  more  nobly  told,  not  only  than  any 
other  piece  of  Sicilian  history,  but  than  any  other  piece  of 
the  history  of  mankind."  And  since  the  career  of  Nicias  is 
so  largely  identified  with  the  Sicilian  expedition,  it  might 
seem,  at  first  blush,  a  needless  and  even  a  presumptuous  task 
on  the  part  of  Plutarch  to  follow  in  the  steps  of  Thucydides, 
wherein  any  follower  must  be  painfully  conscious  of  the  in- 
terval at  which  he  follows.     But  Plutarch  was  well  aware  of 


his  peril,  and  saved  himself  by  an  admirable  restriction,  for 
independent  development  and  improvement,  to  scenes  and 
episodes  only  which  illustrate  the  character  and  disposition 
of  Nicias.  The  main  story  of  the  expedition  he  assumed  to 
be  more  or  less  familiar  to  his  readers.  Even  had  he  done  no 
more  than  condense  the  story  of  Thucydides,  we  could  still 
be  thankful  to  him  for  his  effort  But  he  has  done  far  more. 
He  has  enriched  that  story  with  many  dramatic  incidents  of 
undoubted  authenticity,  and  supplemented  it  with  corrobo- 
rative details  of  high  antiquarian  value.  For  Thucydides, 
though  a  contemporary,  was  not  an  eyewitness  of  the  events 
of  the  Sicilian  expedition  either  at  Athens  or  Syracuse,  and 
in  spite  of  his  magnificent  detachment,  his  story  shows  an 
Athenian  standpoint.  Philistus,  on  the  other  hand,  was  an 
eyewitness  of  the  events  of  the  siege  of  Syracuse,  and  was 
on  the  Syracusan  side.  His  story,  had  it  come  down  to  us, 
even  though  it  did  base  itself  on  the  earlier  story  of  Thucyd- 
ides, would  have  been  a  most  welcome  testimony  ex  alterd 
parte.  "  It  is  hard  to  follow  the  story  with  the  hopes  and 
fears  of  a  Syracusan.  Yet  this  is  what  the  historian  of 
Sicily  must  do.  With  his  Thucydides  ever  in  his  hand,  he 
must  strive  to  be  his  own  Philistos.  He  must  teach  his  heart 
to  dwell  in  the  besieged  city  and  not  in  the  besieging  camp. 
.  .  .  And  surely,  be  it  on  Senlac  or  on  Epipolai,  it  is  a  higher 
and  more  ennobling  feeling  when  we  fight  in  spirit,  whether 
in  defeat  or  in  victory,  with  the  men  who  are  fighting  for 
their  own  soil  against  unprovoked  invasion  "  (Freeman,  Hist 
of  Sicily,  iiL  p.  3).  To  a  large  extent  we  are  enabled  to  do 
this  through  the  manifold  details  which  Plutarch  gives  us 
from  Philistus,  whose  work,  but  for  fragments  thus  preserved 
by  Plutarch  and  others,  has  perished.  And  this  fact  renders 
the  Nicias,  as  a  historical  document,  over  and  above  its  lit- 
erary charm,  of  priceless  value,  just  as  the  Cimon  and  the 
P^rides  are  enhanced  in  historical  value  by  the  authentic 
material  in  them  which  supplements  Thucydides.  Plutarch 
mentions  by  name  in  his  Nicias  some  nineteen  authors.  In 
some  thirteen  cases  also,  a  vague  phrase  of  reference  like 


y 


\\ 


> 


1  i 


82 


INTRODUCTION 


SOURCES  OF  PLUTARCH'S  NICIAS 


33 


« it  is  said  ",  or  «  most  writers  ",  hides  from  us  the  particular 
source,  or  marks  matter  taken  at  second  hand. 

Of  Thucydides  and  Philistus,  enough  has  already  been 
written  in  the  chapter  on  primary  sources  (pp.  4-10).  A  brief 
characterization  will  now  be  given  of  the  other  principal 
sources  for  the  material  of  the  Nicias,  whether  named  by 
Plutarch  or  not,  arranged  as  nearly  as  possible  in  chronologi- 
cal order.  Pindar  need  not  be  included,  who  is  cited  in 
i.  2  for  mere  literary  embellishment ;  nor  Euripides,  who  is 
cited  for  the  same  purpose  in  v.  4  and  ix.  5,  and  for  the 
higher  purpose  of  historical  corroboration  in  xviL  4.  After 
what  has  been  said  of  Old  Athenian  Comedy  as  a  primary 
source  (pp.  1  f .),  the  detailed  information  needed  concern- 
ing the  contemporary  rivals  of  Aristophanes,  such  as  Eupolis, 
Phrynichus,  Plato,  and  Telecleides,  will  best  find  a  place  in 
the  current  notes,  as  well  as  that  concerning  other  authors  al- 
luded to  or  cited  for  literary  rather  than  historical  purposes. 
Of  Aristotle's  Constitution  of  Athens  also,  which  is  a  primary 
source  in  so  far  as  it  incorporates  oligarchical  opinions  prev- 
alent during  the  closing  years  of  the  Peloponnesian  war, 
enough  has  been  said  already  (pp.  3  f.).  By  adopting  such 
opinions,  Aristotle,  of  course,  gave  them  the  weight  of  his 
own  name  and  authority. 

Plutarch  does  not  mention  Theopompus  in  the  Nicias,  but 
it  is  possible,  and  even  probable  that  he  uses  him,  directly  or 
indirectly,  for  some  of  the  material  found  in  chapters  ii.-v., 
and  occasionally  elsewhere.    The  Alcibiades  of  Nepos  is  con- 
fessedly (xL  1)  based  largely  on  the  tradition  of  Theopompus. 
Theopompus  of  Chios,  like  his  fellow  student  Ephorus  of 
Cym^,  was  a  pupil  of  the  orator  Isocrates,  and  applied  to  the 
narration  of  historical  events  the  principles  of  formal  rhet- 
oric.   With  the  rise  of  the  Macedonian  power  to  political 
supremacy  in  Greece,  and  with  the  remarkable  domination  of 
intellectual  Greece  by  the  orator  Isocrates,  a  new  political 
idea,  and  a  new  literary  form  became  current,  and  forced  into 
new  lines  the  art  of  writing  history.     The  new  political  idea 
was  the  unity  of  the  Greeks  against  Persia,  and  the  new  lit- 


erary form  was  rhetorical  prose.  Historical  writing  became 
national  instead  of  sectional,  and  rhetorical  devices  minis- 
tered to  the  pleasure  of  hearers  and  readers  as  once  epic 
poetry  or  epic  prose  narrative  had  done.  One  is  tempted  to 
call  Ephorus  the  Herodotus  of  this  period,  and  Theopompus 
its  Thucydides.  But  in  Ephorus  particularly,  and  in  Theo- 
pompus also,  in  spite  of  his  erudition  and  industrious  quest 
of  the  truth,  the  rhetorical  element  triumphs  over  the  didac- 
tic. The  form  was  of  more  importance  than  the  substance> 
and  freely  shaped  the  substance  to  its  needs.  And  besides, 
in  Theopompus,  a  certain  bigotry  and  bitterness  of  partisan- 
ship, together  with  a  pessimistic  scepticism  and  an  imdis- 
criminating  censoriousness,  combine  to  make  him  rather  a 
soured  and  crabbed  Herodotus,  if  that  is  conceivable,  than  a 
later  Thucydides.  A  stem  aristocrat,  he  devoted,  like  Thu- 
cydides, years  of  exile  and  great  wealth  to  securing  the  most 
accurate  knowledge  possible  of  the  periods  which  he  chroni- 
cled, namely,  the  years  411  to  394  B.C.  in  his  Jlellenica,  a 
continuation  of  the  work  of  Thucydides ;  and  the  career  of 
Philip  of  Macedon  in  his  PhUippica,  which  normally  covered 
the  period  360-336  b.  c.  Both  works,  particularly  the  lat- 
ter with  its  fifty-eight  books,  were  storehouses  of  erudition, 
and  their  loss  is  one  of  the  severest  that  Greek  literature  has 
sustained.  The  tenth  book  of  the  PhUippica  was  devoted, 
by  way  of  learned  excursus,  to  the  statesmen,  or  demagogues 
of  Athens.  Here  Plutarch  evidently  f oimd,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, much  biographical  material  for  his  Themistoclesy  Cimon, 
Pericles,  Nicias,  and  AlciMades,  Theopompus  had  no  sym- 
pathy with  or  proper  appreciation  of  the  Athenian  democ- 
racy, and  his  judgments  of  its  popular  leaders  were  harsh  and 
bitter.  He  was  essentially  pedantic,  without  that  keen  in- 
sight into  affairs  and  the  motives  of  men  of  affairs  which 
characterizes  such  historians  as  Thucydides,  Xenophon,  and 
Polybius,  who  were  themselves  men  of  affairs. 

Of  Timaeus,  Plutarch  makes  extensive  use  in  the  Nicias, 
though  seldom  with  gratitude,  and  often  with  severe  disap- 
proval   The  life  of  Timaeus  fell  between  the  years  350  and 


\' 


*  1 


''■1 


84 


INTRODUCTION 


SOURCES   OF  PLUTARCH'S  NICIA8 


35 


250  B.  c.    A  native  of  Tauromenium,  in  Sicily,  and  the  son 
of  the  tyrant  of  that  city,  he  was  banished  from  SicUy  by 
the  tyrant  Agathocles,  of  Syracuse,  and  spent  a  long  exile  at 
Athens,  where  he  had  been  educated,  and  where  he  wrote  a 
voluminous  history  of  his  native  island  from  earliest  times 
down  to  the  year  264  b.  c.     Polybius,  who  made  extended 
use  of  this  work,  accused  its  author  of  almost  every  fault  that 
a  bad  historian  can  possess,  and  probably  with  some  justice, 
although  Cicero  praises  the  learning  and  even  the  style  of 
Timaeus.    He  was  a  bookish  recluse,  a  learned,  patient,  and 
careful  collector  of  the  most  heterogeneous  historical  mate- 
rial, and  a  harsh  censor  of  the  work  of  others.     We  know 
that  he  paid  great  attention  to  chronology,  and  introduced 
the  practice  of  recording  events  by  Olympiads.    His  work, 
like  that  of  Theopompus,  is  known  to  us  only  in  fragments. 
It  seems  to  have  been  a  great  storehouse  of  learned  research, 
but  full  of  the  gross  perversions  of  ambitious  rhetoric. 

There  was  a  long  line  of  antiquarian  writers  who  composed 
Atthides,  or  chronological  histories  of  the  customs,  institu- 
tions,  and  monuments  of  Athens  and  Attica.    The  oldest  of 
these,  if  Hellanicus  be  not  included  in  the  group,  whose 
Atthis  was  of  a   more  general  character  (see  p.  42),  was 
Cleidemus,  or  Cleitodemus  (Themistocles,x,  4;  Aristidea^^ix. 
3).     Phanodemus,  from  whom  Plutarch  cites  in  the  Cimon 
(xiL  5 ;  xix.  1),  and  Androtion,  from  whom  Aristotle  drew 
some  of  the  material  for  the  Constitution  of  Athens,  and 
whom  Plutarch  cites  in  his  Solon  (xv.),  were  others.    But 
the  most  important  writer  of  this  class  was  Philochorus, 
who  summed  up  and  perfected  the  work  of  his  predecessors. 
He  was  a  professional  seer,  and  an  official  interpreter  of 
oracles  and  portents  at  Athens  in  306.    He  was  slam  at 
Athens  by  Antigonus  Gonatas  in  261.     His  chief  work,  an 
Atthis,  carried  the  chronicles  of  Athens  down  to  the  year  of 
his  death,  and  the  fragments  of  it  which  have  reached  us 
testify  to  the  great  learning  and  wisdom  of  its  author, 
Plutarch  cites  him  frequently  in  the  Theseus,  once  in  the 
Nicias  (xxiii.  5),  and  probably  uses  him  freely  at  other  times, 


directly  or  indirectly,  without  mentioning  his  name,  as  in 
the  Themistocles  (x.  3)  and  the  I^icias  (ii  1),  where  he 
takes  Aristotle's  Constitution  of  Athens  as  he  found  it 
cited  in  Philochorus.  It  is  possible  that  the  antiquarian 
material  of  Nicias  iii  comes  from  Philochorus.  His  enor- 
mous literary  activity  belongs  to  the  generation  following 
Aristotle,  whom  he  cites  freely,  as  well  as  previous  Atthides. 
It  may  well  be,  therefore,  that  Plutarch  names  the  earlier 
-4  ^^Am- writers  mainly  as  he  finds  them  cited  by  Philochorus, 
or  as  he  finds  Philochorus  cited  in  his  biographical  soiurce. 

Theophrastus,  of  Eresos  in  Lesbos,  the  most  famous  pupil 
and  the  successor  of  Aristotle;  is  cited  twice  in  the  Nicias 
(x.  1 ;  XL  7),  and  once  in  the  AlciUades  (x.  3),  where  Plu- 
tarch calls  him  "  the  most  versatile  and  learned  of  all  the 
philosophers".  The  Peripatetic  school  of  philosophers,  in 
the  historical  and  biographical  work  which  they  incidentally 
cultivated,  seem  to  have  culled  from  all  sorts  of  sources 
striking  anecdotes  of  historical  personages,  without  showing 
much  critical  acumen,  and  rather  for  purposes  of  ethical  and 
philosophical  illustration.  Their  main  work  lay  in  other 
fields.  A  work  of  Theophrastus  "  On  Lives  "  was  a  mine  of 
citation  for  Plutarch  in  his  Aristides,  Pericles,  Nicias,  Aid- 
hiades  and  other  Lives,  In  this  work,  like  Theopompus  and 
Aristotle,  Theophrastus  betrays  the  bias  of  the  oligarchical 
partisan.  His  main  endeavor,  however,  was  to  supplement 
and  complete  the  work  of  Aristotle  in  the  field  of  natural 
history.  Besides  two  great  works  on  botany,  we  possess 
only  his  Characters,  if  that  be  an  independent  work,  and  not 
a  collection  of  extracts  from  ethical  writings.  This  contains 
thirty  sketches  of  types  of  Athenian  character  in  the  age  of 
Alexander.  The  life  of  Theophrastus  fell  between  the 
years  373-284  b.  c. 

Craterus  the  Macedonian,  a  son  of  Alexander's  famous  gen- 
eral of  that  name,  and  half-brother  of  King  Antigonus  Oona- 
tas,  flourished  in  the  early  part  of  the  third  century  b.  c,  and 
distinguished  himself  as  a  careful  compiler  of  original  his- 
torical documents  bearing  on  the  history  of  Athens.    He 


35  INTRODUCTION 

apparently  wrote  a  poHtical  history  of  Athens  based  on  these 
Wuable  documents.    He  is  much  quoted  by  schohasts  and 
late  lexicographers,  and  known  to  us  principidly  in  this  way. 
Plutarch  speaks  of  his  collections,  to  which  he  ^ay  have 
had  access,  in  his  Aristi<ks  (xxvi.  2)  and  Cimon  (xul  6),  and 
doubtless  often  uses  material  furnished  by  him  without  men- 
tioning his  name,  as  in  the  Nicias  (xiL  4).     Some  spurious 
documents  may  have  crept  into  the  coUections  of  Craterus, 
but  in  general  hLs  work  must  have  been  of  the  highest  value, 
and  it  I  always  cited  with  respect,  often  in  the  same  class 
with  the  Atthis-vnit^TS. 

After  his  Introduction  (chap,  i),  in  which  he  excoriates 
Timaeus  and  lays  down  his  own  contrasting  program  of 
procedure,  Plutarch  describes  at  once,  in  chapters  ii.-v.,  the 
•^Character"  of  Nicias,  with  illustrations  taken  from  the 
daily  walk  and  conversation  of  the  man,  and  from  his  use  of 
the  great  wealth  at  his  disposal     The  two  <iivi«ions  of  a 
Zt/.  usually  devoted  to  "Birth  and  Family",  and  "Educa- 
tion  and  Training  ",  are  omitted,  doubtless  for  lack  of  material, 
since  very  little  was  known,  even  in  antiquity,  on  those 
topics.      The  material  of  the  three  chapters  devoted  to 
Character  is  gathered  from  a  variety  of  sources, -anti- 
quarian  writers  like  Philochorus,  the  book  o    Theo^mpus 
devoted  to  the  Athenian  demagogues,  the  dialogue  of  Pasi- 
phon  entitled  Nudas.  and  the  comic  poets,  and  is  most  skii- 
iuUy  blended  into  a  literary  whole.    How  far  this  resultant 
whole  is  due  to  Plutarch  himself,  and  how  far  to  Theoi^m- 
pus,  or  to  learned  comment  on  Theopompus  and  Pasiphon 
LnLot  be  known  with  any  certainty.    But  Plutarch  would 
clearly  amend  the  verdict  of  Theopompus  to  the  effect  that 
Nicias  made  lavish  use  of  his  great  wealth  only  to  secure 
the  favor  of  the  people,  by  attributing  such  use  rather  to  his 
reverent  piety  (iv.  1).     These  chapters  give  us  an  adm^^le 
picture  of  a  timorous  man  of  mediocrity  forced,  m  the  dearth 
of  strong  conservative  leaders,  to  occupy  a  pinnacle  of  popu- 
lar influence  from  which  he  looked  down  dizzily. 


ANALYSIS  OF  THE  NICIAS 


87 


In  chapters  vL-xxvii,  Plutarch  rehearses  the  "  Deeds  "  of 
Nicias,  usually  the  fourth  division  of  a  biography. 

Chapters  vi-viil  cover  the  earlier  part  of  the  public  activi- 
ties of  Nicias,  from  433,  or  thereabout,  down  to  424  and  the 
triumph  of  his  political  adversary,  Cleon,  at  Sphacteria. 
Chapter  vL,  which  enumerates  his  unbroken  successes  as  a 
general  and  contrasts  them  with  the  reverses  and  calamities 
of  others,  reads  like  the  independent  work  of  Plutarch  com- 
piling widely  and  rather  carelessly  from  Thucydides.  Chap- 
ter vii.  condenses  most  effectively  a  considerable  part  of  the 
circumstantial  accoimt  which  Thucydides  gives  (iv.  2-28)  of 
the  affair  of  Pylos,  and  illustrates  the  crazy  vanity  of  Cleon 
by  an  anecdote  which  probably  comes  from  Theopompus, 
who  lurks  behind  a  vague  "It  is  said".  Chapter  viii  con- 
cludes the  effective  condensation  of  Thucydides*  story  of 
Pylos  (iv.  29-41),  and  adds,  in  all  probability  from  Theo- 
pompus, Aristophanic  skits  reflecting  popular  opinion  con- 
cerning Nicias*  renunciation  of  office  in  favor  of  Cleon,  and  a 
vigorous  sketeh  of  Cleon  in  action. 

Chapters  ix.-xiL  cover  the  political  activities  of  Nicias 
from  424  down  to  415  and  the  triumph  of  his  adversary, 
Alcibiades,  in  the  final  decision  of  the  Athenian  people  to 
send  an  armament  of  conquest  to  Sicily.  Chapter  ix.  de- 
scribes the  triumph  of  Nicias  as  a  peacemaker  after  Cleon 
has  been  exterminated,  in  language  based  upon  or  suggested 
by  Thucydides  (see  the  current  notes),  and  enriched  by  lit- 
erary citations.  Chapter  x.  describes  the  parliamentary 
trick  by  means  of  which  Alcibiades  circumvents  the  slow 
Nicias  and  practically  renews  the  war.  It  is  based  entirely 
upon  Thucydides  (see  the  current  notes),  but  inserts  a  char- 
acteristic item  from  Theophrastus.  Chapter  xi.,  on  the  other 
hand,  with  its  detailed  account  of  the  ostracism  of  Hyper- 
bolus,  contains  material  which  is  nowhere  to  be  found  in 
Thucydides,  and  which  probably  comes  from  the  book  on 
Athenian  demagogues  by  Theopompus,  to  whom  Plutarch 
alludes,  in  a  fashion  characteristic  of  ancient  literary  prac- 
tice, by  the  indefinite  **  most  writers  **  of  §  7.      The  same 


!| 


3g  INTRODUCTION 

story  is  told  in  a  different  manner,  when  Plutarch  is  more 
imder  the  influence  of  Theophrastus,  in  Alcibiades,  xiii. 
Chapter  xii.,  again,  describing  the  steps  by  which  the 
Athenian  people  came  to  vote  the  Sicilian  expedition,  is 
almost  wholly  Thucydidean  (see  the  current  notes),  with 
genial  « improvement"  at  the  hands  of  Plutarch,  and  a  nota- 
ble  item  from  the  collections  of  Craterus. 

Chapter  xiii,  forming  a  sort  of  transition  to  the  story  of 
the  SicUian  expedition,  is  wholly  taken  up  with  oracles  and 
omens  unfavorable  to  the  expedition.  It  forms  no  part  of 
the  narrative,  and  might  be  cut  out  without  disturbing  it  It 
is  in  all  probability  a  compilation  from  Timaeus,  who  reveled 
in  such  material,  as  is  clear  from  Plutarch's  first  chapter. 
Aside  from  the  three  items  in  xv.  4,  xix.  4,  and  xxvm.  4, 
which  are  due  to  Timaeus,  the  material  taken  from  him  by 
Plutarch  in  this  Life  is  all  akin  to  that  of  this  thirteenth 

chapter. 

In  chapters  xiv.-xxviiL,  Plutarch  describes  the  part  taken 
by  Nicias  in  the  iU-starred  Sicilian  expedition,  from  the  time 
when  he  was  "  gazing  back  homewards  from  his  ship  like  a 
child  ",  to  the  time  when  his  poor  body  was  «  cast  out  at  the 
prison  door"  in  Syracuse,  **and  lay  there  in  plain  sight  of 
aU  who  craved  the  spectacle".    In  all  these  chapters,  Thu- 
cydides  is  the  constant  and  main  source,  blended  often  and 
most  acceptably  with  Philistus,  and  supplemented,  sometimes 
acceptably,  sometimes  controversiaUy,  but  always  interest- 
ingly,  by  Timaeus.    The  details  of  Plutarch's  indebtedness  to 
each  'of  these  three  authors  are  fully  given  in  the  current 
notes,  and  need  not  be  repeated  here.    It  is  seldom  that  Plu- 
tarch's  sources  can  be  determined  so  satisfactorUy  as  in  this 

group  of  chapters. 

Chapters xxix.  and XXX.  form  the  sad  epilogue  to  tYnaLi/e, 
describing  the  fate  of  the  imprisoned  Athenians  at  Syracuse, 
and  the  receipt  of  the  news  of  disaster  at  Athens.  The  first  is  a 
compound  of  Thucydides  and  Philistus,  and  the  second  is  made 
up  of  anecdote  taken  from  some  collection  at  Plutarch's  com- 
mand,  as  is  seen  from  his  use  of  the  same  material  elsewhere 


SOURCES  OF  PLUTARCH'S  ALCIBIADES        89 

On  the  whole,  then,  if  we  have  not  Plutarch  at  his  best 
in  the  Nicias,  we  certainly  have  him  at  a  very  high  level  of 
excellence.  He  has  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Thucydides 
admiringly  and  safely,  and  has  added  to  the  Thucydidean 
basis  material,  otherwise  lost  to  us,  which  is  generally  authen- 
tic, often  valuable  even  if  not  authentic,  and  always  interest- 
ing. He  has  unrolled  before  us,  with  dramatic  effects,  the 
tragedy  of  a  man  of  pious  mediocrity  who  is  intrusted  with 
a  great  empire's  fate. 


Alphabetical  list  of  Authors  cited  by  Plutarch  in  his 


Nicias. 

Anazagoras     ....      XXIII.  2 
Aristophanes    .    .      IV.  6  ;  VIII.  2 

Aristotle II.  1 

Autocleides      ....      XXIII.  6 

Diphilos I.  2 

Eupolis IV.  6 

Enripides    .    XVII.  4 ;  V.  4 ;  IX.  6 

Pasiphon IV.  2 

Philistiu     .    •  I.  2  and  5;  XIX.  5; 

XXVIII.  4 
Philochorus  •  .  .  ,  XXIII.  5 
Phxynichns IV.  6 


Pindar I.  2 

Plato  Com. XI.  6 

Plato  Phil. XXIII.  4 

Telecleides IV.  4 


Theophrastus 
Thucydides . 


Timaeus 


Xenaichns  (?)  • 


.  .  X.  1 ;  XI.  7 
I.  land  5;  IV.  1; 

XIX.  6;   XX.  6; 

XXVIII.  4 

.    1.2-4;  XIX.  4; 

XXVIII.  3  and  4 
•    •     •    •     •     X.  3 


IV.    THE  SOUKCES  OF  PLUTARCH  IN  HIS  AZCI-^ 
BIADES,  WITH  AN  ANALYSIS  OF  THIS  ZIFJS 

The  Alcihiades  lacks  the  Introduction  and  the  preliminary 
comparison  with  the  Roman  selected  as  a  parallel,  which  we 
find  in  the  Cimon,  Pericles,  and,  less  fully  developed,  in  the 
Nicias.  As  we  find  them  also  in  nine  other  Greek  Lives,  fol- 
lowed by  the  full  and  formal  "Comparison"  at  the  dose  of  the 
Roman  Life,  this  may  be  called  the  normal  method  of  Plu- 
tarch. But  since  the  principle  of  paralleling  a  Greek  with  a 
Roman  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  least  successful  of  Plutarch's 
contributions  to  biography,  no  apology  is  needed  for  compar- 


i%M 


.<»  ""^^^ 


40 


INTRODUCTION 


ing  and  contrasting  in  each  of  the  volumes  of  this  series  two 
Greeks  who  were  intimately  associated  with  each  other  and 
strong  rivals  of  one  another  in  a  crucial  period  of  their  coun- 
try's history.     Themistocles  and  Aristides  were  the  two  op- 
posing spirits  in  the  incipient  democracy  of  the  period  of  the 
Persian  invasions;  Cimon  and  Pericles  in  the  culminating 
democracy  of  the  period  of  the  Pentecontaetia ;  and  Nicias 
and  Alcibiades  in  the  decadent  democracy  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesian  war.      It  is   much  more  instructive,  historically  at 
least,  to  contrast  such  powerful  political  rivals  as  Themis- 
tocles and  Aristides,  or  Cimon  and  Pericles,  than  to  force 
comparisons  between  Themistocles  and  Camillus,  Aristides 
and  Marcus  Cato,  Cimon  and  Lucullus,  or  Pericles  and  Fa- 
bins  Maximus;  to  contrast  Nicias  and  Alcibiades,  than  to 
compare  Nicias  with  Crassus,  or  Alcibiades  with  Coriolanus. 
The  formal "  Comparison  "  of  Alcibiades  and  Coriolanus,  like 
so  many  of  the  others,  results  in  a  series  of  contrasts.     They 
were  alike  in  one  thing  only :  "  so  long  as  they  remained 
and  held  command  in  their  respective  countries,  they  emi- 
nently sustained,  and  when  they  were  driven  into  exile,  yet 
more  eminently  damaged  the  fortunes  of  those  countries" 
(chap.  i.).    In  all  other  respects  they  were  most  unlike. 
Alcibiades, « in  spite  of  the  harm  he  occAsioned,  could  not 
make  himself  hated;"  and  Coriolanus,  ''with  all  the  admi- 
ration he  attracted,  could  not  succeed  in  being  beloved  by 
his  countrymen"  (chap.  iii).      Coriolanus  was  simple  and 
straightforward;  Alcibiades  unscrupulous  and  false.     Alci- 
biades relented  when  he  found  the  feelings    of  his  country- 
men to  be  changed  towards  him,  and  "  did  the  very  thing 
that  Aristides  is  so  commended  for  doing  to  Themistocles ; 
he  came  to  the  generals  who  were  his  enemies,  and  pointed 
out  to  them  what  they  ought  to  do."      Coriolanus,  on  the 
other  hand,  by  his  obduracy,  "  showed  that  it  had  been  to 
destroy  and  overthrow,  not  to  recover  and  regain  his  country, 
that  he  had  excited  bitter  and  implacable  hostilities  against 
it"  (chap.  u.).    And  yet,  ''for  his  temperance,  continence, 
and  probity,  he  claims  to  be  compared  with  the  best  and 


SOURCES  OF  PLUTARCH'S  ALCIBIADES       41 

purest  of  the  Greeks ;  not  in  any  sort  or  kind  with  Alcibi- 
ades, the  least  scrupulous  and  most  entirely  careless  of 
human  beings  in  all  these  points "  (chap.  v.). 

In  his  Alcibiades y  as  in  his  Pericles ^  Plutarch  doubtless 
based  his  work  upon  a  standard  biography,  or  upon  standard 
biographical  material  accessible  to  him  in  the  works  of  the 
great  schools  of  biography,  philosophical  and  philological, 
which  had  flourished  before  him  (see  the  chapter  on  Biogra- 
phy  "before  Plutarch^  in  the  Introduction  to  the  Themistocles 
1  aiid  Aristides).  But  this  material  is  successfully  fused  with 
contributions  of  his  own,  so  that  it  is  often  difficult  to  trace 
the  dividing  line  between  the  work  of  the  author  and  that  of 
his  "  traditional  biography  ".  Hence  the  large  margin  of  un- 
certainty which  often  encompasses  the  study  of  Plutarch's 
sources,  from  which  it  follows  that  no  two  critics  will  agree 
closely  upon  the  extent  of  the  "  traditional  biography  "  serv- 
ing in  any  given  case  as  the  basis  of  Plutarch's  work,  nor 
upon  the  degree  in  which  the  genial  writer  adds  to  this  from 
his  known  stores  of  learning.  He  cites  by  name  in  the  Aid- 
Hades  some  twenty-three  authors.  Many,  perhaps  most  of 
these  he  finds  already  cited  in  his  main  source,  the  "  tradi- 
tional biography  ".  But  whether  he  names  his  source  or  not, 
and  whether  he  draws  from  that  source  directly  or  indirectly, 
are  matters  which  concern  only  the  manner  of  Plutarch's 
procedure.  The  historical  worth  of  the  material  which  he 
gives  us  depends  upon  the  worth  of  the  ultimate  sources  for 
that  material.  In  some  sixteen  cases  an  indefinite  phrase  of 
reference  like  "  it  is  said  ",  or  "  others  say  ",  hides  from  us  the 
particular  source,  or  marks  material  taken  at  second  hand. 

Of  Thucydides,  Xenophon,  and  Plato  the  philosopher, 
enough  has  been  written  in  the  chapter  on  primary  sources 
(pp.  4-11),  as  well  as  of  Aristophanes  and  Old  Athenian 
Comedy  in  general  (pp.  1  f .) ;  on  the  various  rivals  of  Aris- 
tophanes, the  needful  comment  will  be  given  in  the  current 
notes.  For  Theopompus,  and  Theophrastus,  who  are  among 
the  secondary  sources  for  the  Nicias  also,  see  pp.  32  f.,  35. 
It  will  scarcely  be  necessary  to  say  anything  of  Demosthenes, 


•  4^  t.!  «'  ^   *4  ' 


.♦.»,•♦.*.•.%  "  y»  "" 


•    •ir.i^.v'      ■.'!..•,.«, 


;<«  ^  #>  ^    .  -  I  .  W.  -* 


A  -^ 


••^."v   ■-,  »v.  1.  I     *  V  "•""••*•*•««>• 


42 


INTRODUCTION 


whose  estimate  of  Alcibiades*  eloquence  is  cited  in  x.  2,  nor 
of  Euripides,  whom  Plutarch  here  as  always  readily  cites  for 
purposes  of  literary  embellishment,  and  occasionally,  as  in 
the  Nidas  xvii  4  and  the  Alcibiades  xL  2,  for  the  sake  of 
historical  corroboration.  A  brief  characterization  will  now 
be  given  of  the  other  principal  sources  for  the  material  of 
the  Alcibiades,  arranged  as  neariy  as  possible  in  chronological 
order.  On  authors  of  minor  importance,  the  needful  com- 
ment will  be  given  in  the  current  notes. 

Hellanicus,  of  Mitylene  in  Lesbos,  lived  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  fifth  century  b.  c,  and  was  a  voluminous  writer 
of  genealogical  and  chronological  works.  An  "Attic  His- 
tory "  of  his,  referred  to  by  Thucydides  (I  97,  2),  and  used 
by  that  historian  for  the  period  of  the  Pentecontaetia  (see 
the  Introduction  to  the  Cimon  and  Pericles,  p.  2),  was  an 
Atthis,  or  chronicle  of  events  in  Greek  history  by  years  of 
Athenian  archonships.  It  was  the  only  strictly  historical 
work  dealing  with  the  events  of  this  period  composed  by 
one  who  was  contemporary  with  the  events.  Plutarch  cites 
this  writer  in  the  Alcibiades  (or  finds  him  cited  in  his 
source)  only  for  the  genealogical  item  of  xxL  !• 

A  most  important,  because  primary  and  contemporary 
source  for  events  which  profoimdly  affected  the  career  of 
Alcibiades,  namely,  the  mutilation  of  the  Hermae  and  the 
profanation  of  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries,  is  found  in  two 
speeches  of  Andocides,  "On  his  Return",  and  "On  the 
Mysteries  ".  A  spurious  oration  "  Against  Alcibiades  '*,  which 
has  also  come  down  to  us  among  the  speeches  of  Andocides, 
has  some  worth  as  a  secondary  source,  as  will  be  shown  suf- 
ficiently in  the  current  notes. 

By  birth  and  natural  inclination,  Andocides  was  an  oli- 
garch, but  in  consequence  of  his  treacherous  betrayal  of 
friends  in  this  party,  he  incurred  its  hatred,  and  sought, 
though  vainly,  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  democracy. 
He  was  bom  probably  about  440  b.  c,  but  we  know  noth- 
ing of  his  life  imtil  415,  when  the  mutilation  of  the  Hermae 
and  rumors  of  travesties  in  private  houses  of  the  ceremonies 


SOURCES  OF  PLUTARCH'S  ALCIBIADES       43 

of  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries  filled  Athens  with  horror  and 
fear.  His  name,  like  that  of  Alcibiades,  was  associated  by 
his  enemies  with  both  sacrileges,  but  there  is  no  good  evi- 
dence that  he  was  concerned  with  the  latter,  as  there  is  none 
that  Alcibiades  was  connected  with  the  former.  Imprisoned 
on  the  denunciations  of  the  informers  Teucrus  and  Diocleides, 
together  with  his  father,  his  brother-in-law,  and  other  rela- 
tives, Andocides  turned  state's  evidence  under  promise  of 
personal  indemnity  guaranteed  by  a  public  decree  {Aid- 
biades,  xxL).  But  this  decree  was  afterwards  cancelled,  and 
a  new  decree  passed  providing  that  those  who  had  committed 
impiety  and  confessed  it  should  be  excluded  from  market 
place  and  temples,  a  punishment  virtually  equivalent  to 
banishment.  Andocides  accordingly  left  Athens,  and  spent 
most  of  the  years  415-402  in  exile,  with  Cyprus  as  his 
headquarters,  and  merchandise  in  lumber  as  his  occupa- 
tion. He  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  reestablish 
himself  in  Athens  during  the  government  of  the  Four 
Himdred  (411),  and  again  in  410,  just  after  the  victory  of 
the  Athenians  at  Cyzicus.  On  this  latter  occasion  he  was 
allowed  to  plead  his  case  before  the  Assembly,  which  he  did 
in  the  speech  "  On  his  Return  ".  After  deprecating  the  malice 
and  stupidity  of  his  enemies,  the  oligarchs,  in  rejecting  the 
good  offices  which  he  is  anxious  to  render  his  native  city, 
he  speaks  (§§  5-9)  of  his  former  transgressions  as  misfor- 
tunes, due  to  youth,  folly,  and  madness,  and  deserving  of 
pity  rather  than  of  hatred.  He  had  been  brought  by  evil 
advisers  into  such  a  pass  that  he  was  compelled  to  denounce 
his  associates  in  crime,  or  else  sufifer  death  himself  and  bring 
his  innocent  father  to  death.  And  the  denunciations  which 
he  had  made  five  years  before  had  brought  immediate  and 
great  relief  to  the  city,  though  pain  of  long  exile  upon  him- 
self, who  was  deserving  of  gratitude  instead  of  hatred.  This 
is  the  important  part  of  the  speech  for  our  present  purposes. 
In  what  follows,  he  pleads  that  his  services  to  the  state  dur- 
ing his  exile  ought  to  effect  "  the  observance  of  the  promise 
of  immunity  under  which  he  originally  laid  his  information. 


44 


INTRODUCTION 


but  which  was  afterwards  withdrawn  under  the  influence  of 

his  enemies  ". 

His  plea  was  rejected,  and  he  returned  to  his  career  in 
exile.     In  402,  however,  under  the  general  amnesty  passed 
the  year  before,  he  returned  to  Athens,  and  resumed  the 
duties  and  privileges  of  active  citizenship.     But  the  hatred 
of  his  enemies  only  slumbered,  and  in  399  he  was  brought 
to  trial  on  a  charge  of  impiety,  because  he  had  attended  the 
services  of  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries,  contrary  to  the  decree 
of  415,  which  expressly  excluded  him  from  temples.     His 
speech  "  On  the  Mysteries  "  is  his  defence  before  the  appro- 
priate law-court,  and  the  first  part  of  it  (§§  11-69)  is  taken 
up  with  reviews  of  the  facts  in  the  two  cases  wherein  he  had 
been  accused  of  impiety  in  415,  namely,  the  mutilation  of 
the  Hermae  and  the  profanation  of  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries. 
He  proves  conclusively  (§§  11-33)  that  he  took  no  part  in 
the  latter,  but  in  regard  to  the  former  he  gives  a  version 
much  at  variance  with  what  he  said  on  the  subject  in  410, 
in  the  speech  «  On  his  Eeturn  ".     Eleven  years  had  elapsed 
since  that  speech  was  made,  and  the  memories  of  his  hearers 
had  been  dimmed, "  not  by  lapse  of  time  only,  but  by  that 
great  wave  of  trouble  which  swept  over  Athens  in  405,  and 
which  left  all  older  memories  faint  in  comparison  with  the 
memory  of  the  Thirty  Tyrants  "  (Jebb).     In  the  speech  of 
410,  Andocides  pleaded  guilty  to  certain  transgressions  due 
to  youth,  folly,  madness,  and  evil  advisers ;  in  the  speech  of 
399  he  flatly  and  defiantly  denies  that  he  was  in  any  way 
guilty,  and  gives  what  purports  to  be  the  substance  of  his 
deposition  to  the  authorities  in  415.     He  represents  himself 
as  having  deposed  that  the  mutilation  of  the  Hermae  was 
the  work  of  the  members  of  a  club  to  which  he  belonged, 
and  that  the  work  had  been  done,  against  his  protest,  while 
he  lay  sick  at  home,  at  the  instigation  of  a  certain  Euphile- 
tus.     This  Euphiletus  had  assured  his  club-mates  that  An- 
docides had  been  won  over  to  the  scheme,  and  would  take 
care  of  the  mutilation  of  the  Hermes  in  front  of  his  house, 
which  accounted  for  that  particular  figure's  escape  from  out- 


SOURCES  OF  PLUTARCH'S  ALCIBIADES       45 

rage.  Now  we  have  not  only  Andocides'  own  admission  of 
guilt  in  his  speech  of  410,  but  also  the  charge  of  one  of  his 
opponents  at  the  trial  of  399  ([Lysias]  "  Against  Andocides  ", 
§§  35  f.,  cf.  Jebb,  Attic  Orators,  I.  p.  281),  the  words  of  Thu- 
cydides  (vL  60, 4),  and  of  Plutarch  {Ale,  xxi.  4),  to  the  effect 
that  his  deposition  calumniated  himself  as  well  as  others.  In 
any  case,  then,  the  version  of  the  affair  given  in  the  speech 
"  On  the  Mysteries  "  is  untrue  as  a  representation  of  what  he 
deposed  in  415.  The  deposition  itself  may  or  may  not  have 
been  true. 

Andocides  was  acquitted  at  his  trial  in  399,  but  we  hear 
nothing  further  about  him  untU  the  winter  of  391-390,  when 
he  was  a  member  of  an  embassy  sent  to  Sparta  to  treat  for 
peace.  On  the  return  of  the  embassy,  his  speech  "  On  the 
Peace  with  Lacedaemon "  urged  an  acceptance  of  the  terms 
proposed  by  the  Spartans,  with  sound  and  statesmanlike 
arguments,  which  were  not,  however,  effectual  with  the 
people.  This  is  his  last  appearance  in  history.  He  seems 
never  to  have  lost  the  hatred  of  the  oligarchs  whom  he 
betrayed,  nor  to  have  gained  the  confidence  of  the  democrats 
on  whom  he  fawned.  And  yet  he  showed  large  talent  in 
business,  and  no  mean  ability  as  an  orator. 

Ephorus,  a  native  of  the  Aeolian  city  of  Cym5,  wrote  a 
universal  history  of  Greeks  and  Barbarians  from  the  Return 
of  the  Heracleidae,  or  the  "Dorian  Invasion",  down  to  the 
year  340  b.  c.  The  work  belonged  distinctly  to  the  time  of 
Alexander  the  Great.  Like  Theopompus,  Ephorus  was  a 
pupil  of  the  orator  Isocrates,  and  applied  to  the  narration 
of  historical  events  the  principles  of  formal  rhetoric  (see 
p.  32).  For  the  periods  of  the  Persian  and  Peloponnesian 
wars,  he  used  principally  the  material  already  furnished  by 
Herodotus,  Thucydides,  and  Xenophon,  but  worked  it  over 
into  a  form  which  appealed  to  the  rhetorical  tastes  of  the 
fourth  century.  His  work  enjoyed  an  immense  popularity, 
and  became  the  standard  history  of  the  world  down  to  its 
terminal  date.  It  has  reached  us  only  in  excerpts  and  frag- 
ments, and  is  principally  known  through  the  generous  use 


««iM!mr" 


46 


INTRODUCTION 


made  of  it  by  the  compiler  Diodorus  Siculus,  who  prepared 
a  compend  of  universal  history  down  to  the  time  of  Caesar's 
Gallic  wars,  writing  under  Augustus.  In  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  books  of  this  compend  of  Diodorus  (xii.  SO-xiiL 
107)  the  period  of  the  Peloponnesian  war  is  treated,  in  the 
main  after  Ephorus,  and  therefore,  ultimately,  after  Thucyd- 
ides  and  Xenophon,  though  not  without  many  and  impor- 
tant variations  on  the  part  both  of  Ephorus  and  Diodorus. 
It  is  cleai*,  for  instance,  that  Ephorus  added  material  from 
Philistus  to  what  Thucydides  gave  him  on  the  Sicilian  expe- 
dition, and  also  that  Diodorus,  in  excerpting  Ephorus,  added 
still  further  material  from  Timaeus.  For  the  years  of  the 
war  following  the  Sicilian  expedition,  Diodorus  seems  to 
have  contented  himself  with  excerpting  Ephorus,  who,  for 
his  part,  had  used  Thucydides  and  Xenophon  after  his  pecu- 
liar manner,  making  only  slight  additions  of  any  historical 
value. 

Diodorus  excerpts  Ephorus  in  large  sections.  But  it  is  also 
probable  that  he  condenses  at  times,  and  certain  that  he 
often  adds  some  matter  of  his  own  composition,  especially 
for  purposes  of  juncture.  In  general,  however,  we  may 
be  reasonably  confident  that  he  reproduces  Ephorus.  Now 
Ephorus,  though  a  diligent  student  and  collector  of  new  ma- 
terial, is  a  far  less  trustworthy  guide  than  Thucydides,  or 
even  Xenophon,  since  he  yields  so  much  to  the  temptations 
of  his  rhetoric.  His  style  is  artificial  in  the  extreme,  diffuse 
and  weak,  and  yet  to  his  style  he  clearly  sacrifices  fidelity  to 
facts  and  leading  authorities.  He  invents  outright  where 
graphic  details  are  wanting,  and  has  stock  descriptions  of 
battles  and  sieges  and  storms  which  he  carries  over  from 
century  to  century.  Occasionally,  however,  he  supplies  us 
with  authentic  supplementary  detail,  which  may  come  from 
Hellanicus,  or  some  other  reputable  Atthis-writeT.  He  was 
an  extravagant  admirer  and  partisan  of  Athens,  going  as  far 
beyond  the  truth  in  praise  or  condonation  of  her  as  her  ene- 
mies, like  Theopompus,  went  in  detraction.  He  did  violence 
to  chronology  by  arranging  events  in  groups  according  to 


ANALYSIS  OF  THE  ALCIBIADES 


47 


their  inner  relationship,  —  a  decided  advance  upon  the  pure 
annalistic  method,  wherein  Thucydides  had  improved  upon 
Hellanicus.  But  Diodorus,  in  excerpting  him,  proceeds  as 
though  each  of  these  groups  of  events  coidd  be  assigned  to  a 
single  year  in  his  own  rigid  annalistic  system.  The  result 
is  chronological  confusion. 

Athens  was  by  no  means  alone  in  developing  the  class 
of  antiquarian  literature  known  as  Atthides  (see  p.  34). 
Almost  every  Greek  community  of  any  importance  had  such 
treatises  devoted  to  it,  and  we  may  assume  that  they  were  all 
utilized  in  the  great  collection  of  Constitutions  of  Greek  states 
by  Aristotle,  of  which  the  Constitution  of  Samos  was  one, 
and  the  Constitution  of  Athens  the  only  one  that  has  come 
down  to  us.  Duris,  a  pupil  of  Theophrastus,  historian  and 
for  a  time  tyrant  of  Samos,  lived  from  about  350  to  about 
280  B.  c,  and  besides  a  History  of  Greece  from  370  to  281, 
wrote  also  an  Annals  of  Samos,  which  is  frequently  referred 
to,  and  contained  many  incidents  of  the  Peloponnesian  war. 
His  writings  displayed  the  most  elaborate  rhetoric,  and  were 
full  of  sensational  and  manifestly  imhistorical  material 
Plutarch  disparages  his  style  and  doubts  his  veracity,  but 
nevertheless  finds  some  welcome  material  in  his  works.  He 
cites  him  in  the  AlciUades  (chap,  xxxii.)  for  material  which 
he  scorns  as  history  but  adopts  for  its  color. 

Without  introduction  of  any  kind,  Plutarch  treats  in 
chapter  L  of  the  birth  and  personal  appearance  of  Alcibiades. 
The  material  is  drawn,  ultimately  at  least,  from  Herodotus, 
Plato,  Antisthenes,  and  the  comic  poets,  with  a  purely  orna- 
mental citation  from  Euripides.  How  far  the  blending  of 
this  material  is  due  to  Plutarch,  and  how  far  to  his  biograph- 
ical source,  cannot  be  determined. 

Chapters  ii-ix.  treat,  without  careful  separation  of  the 
different  topics,  of  the  education  and  character  of  Alcibiades, 
and  reveal  the  wealth  of  anecdotical  material  which  had  come 
to  be  associated  with  this  darling  of  fortune. 

Chapter  ii  is  an  enlargement  upon  suggestions  found  in 


48 


INTRODUCTION 


ANALYSIS  OF  THE  ALCIBIADES 


49 


Plato,  with  illustrative  anecdotes  from  some  current  collection. 
Extensive  collections  of  anecdotes  and  "  memorable  sayings  " 
must  have  formed  part  of  the  literary  apparatus  of  Plutarch. 
Chapter  iii.  gives  us  a  pair  of  anecdotes  drawn  from  an  oration 
falsely  attributed  to  Antiphon.  Chapter  iv.,  again,  is  based 
upon  material  found  in  dialogues  of  Plato,  and  enriched  with 
anecdotes  of  source  unknown.  Chapter  v.  consists  wholly  of 
one  such  anecdota  Chapter  vi.,  again,  is  based  upon  Platonic 
material,  and  is  embellished  with  literary  citations  from 
Cleanthes  and  Thucydides.  Chapter  vii  also  contains  anec- 
dotes of  imknown  source,  and  items  furnished  by  Platonic 
dialogues.  Chapter  viiL  furnishes  another  anecdote  of  un- 
known source,  and  material  to  be  found  also  in  the  spurious 
oration  ''Against  Alcibiades"  attributed  to  Andocides. 
Chapter  iz.  consists  of  another  stock  anecdote. 

Chapters  x.-xxiL  deal  with  that  portion  of  the  public 
career  of  Alcibiades  which  precedes  his  banishment  for  sacri- 
l^ous  impiety, — the  years  424(?)-415. 

Chapter  x.  consists  of  a  fatherless  anecdote,  and  authentic 
testimony  to  the  eloquence  of  Alcibiades  drawn  from  the 
comic  poets,  Demosthenes,  and  Theophrastus.  Chapter  xL 
descants  upon  the  magnificence  of  his  stables,  with  corrobora- 
tive citations  from  Thucydides  and  Euripides.  Chapter  xiL 
blends  material  illustrating  his  unheard  of  splendor  at  the 
Olympic  games  which  is  foimd  in  Isocrates,  [Pseudo-]Andoc- 
ides,  and  Ephorus.  Chapter  xiii  tells  anew,  and  in  a  manner 
at  interesting  variance  with  Nicias,  xi.,  the  story  of  the  os- 
tracism of  Hyperbolus.  As  in  the  Nicias,  the  story  is  based 
substantially  upon  Theopompus,  but  has  a  stronger  infusion 
of  Theophrastus,  though  practically  the  same  literary  embel- 
lishments. Chapters  xiv.  and  xv.,  describing  the  parliament- 
ary triumph  over  Nicias  by  Alcibiades,  and  his  activity  in 
forming  a  North-Peloponnesian  alliance  against  Sparta,  corre- 
spond closely  to  chapter  x.  of  the  Nicias^  and  are  evidently 
based  upon  Thucydides,  with  an  occasional  use  of  Ephorus, 
and  some  additional  embellishment  of  a  rhetorical  nature. 
Chapter   xvi.,   composed   chiefly    of   anecdotes   and   items 


found  in  [Pseudo-]  Andocides,  illustrates  the  wantonness  and 
luxury  in  which  Alcibiades  allowed  himself,  and  forms  a 
suggestive  transition  to  the  story  of  the  Sicilian  expedition, 
like  chap.  xiiL  of  the  Nicias,  Chapters  xviL  and  xviii,  de- 
scribing the  preparations  for  the  Sicilian  expedition  down  to 
the  time  of  the  mutilation  of  the  Hermae,  correspond  closely 
with  chapters  xii  and  xiii  of  the  Nicias,  which  were  based 
mainly  upon  Thucydides  and  Timaeus.  In  retelling  the  story, 
Plutarch  omits  some  features  of  his  narrative  in  the  Nicias, 
but  adds  also  some  noticeable  material,  taken  probably  from 
his  biographical  source  for  the  Alcibiades,  For  chapters  xix.- 
xxiL,  concerning  the  delay  in  the  prosecution  of  Alcibiades 
for  impiety,  the  departure  of  the  fleet,  the  investigation  of  the 
ZTermae-outrage,  the  confession  of  Andocides,  the  condemna- 
tion and  recall  of  Alcibiades,  Thucydides  is  the  main  source, 
supplemented  by  Andocides  ("  On  the  Mysteries  "),  by  mate- 
rial from  Cratenis,  and  by  ornamental  literary  citations. 
Again  it  is  clearly  impossible  to  decide  how  much  of  the  re- 
sultant blend  is  due  to  Plutarch,  and  how  much  to  his  bio- 
graphical source. 

Chapters  xxiiL-xxxiii  are  devoted  to  the  career  of  Alci- 
biades after  his  banishment,  and  until  his  return  to  Athens 
in  408. 

Chapter  xxiiL,  describing  his  life  and  doings  at  Sparta,  his 
fatally  good  advice  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war  against  his 
native  city,  his  marvellous  power  of  adaptation  to  changing 
surroundings,  his  intrigue  with  Queen  Timaea,  is  a  compound 
of  Thucydides,  Theopompus,  and  Duris  of  Samos,  with  literary 
embellishment  Chapters  xxiv.-xxvL,  dealing  with  his  ac- 
tivities in  Asia  Minor  down  to  his  recall  by  the  Athenian 
army  at  Samos,  show  a  free  and  admirable  combination  of 
material  found  in  Thucydides,  Theopompus,  and  Ephorus,  but 
chiefly  in  Thucydides.  Chapters  xxvii-xxxiii,  devoted  to 
his  victorious  career  in  the  Hellespont  and  Propontis,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  the  naval  prestige  of  Athens  was  restored 
and  her  food  supplies  from  the  Euxine  renewed,  are  mainly 
based  upon  Xenophon,  with  here  and  there  an  additional  item 


II  '■  I  III  Mr  gMii  ^tm^iuA 


50 


INTRODUCTION 


or  alterations  due  to  Ephoms  and  Theopompns.  Duris  the 
Samian  is  cited  for  highly  colored  details  connected  with  the 
return  of  Alcibiades  to  Athens  (xxxiL  3),  which  Plutarch  re- 
jects because  "  neither  Theopompus  nor  Ephorus  nor  Xen- 
ophon  mention  these  things  **. 

Chapters  xxxiv.-mvii  2,  occupied  with  the  doings  of 
Alcibiades  from  his  return  to  Athens  down  to  the  disastrous 
defeat  of  the  Athenian  fleet,  no  longer  under  his  command,  at 
Aegospotami,.  have  the  same  character,  so  far  as  their  basis 
and  development  are  concerned,  as  chapters  xxviL-xxxiu., 
t.  e.  they  give  us  Xenophon  blended  with  Ephorus  and  Theo- 
pompus. Nothmg  in  Plutarch  which  contradicts  Xenophon, 
or  which  merely  decks  out  the  simple  narrative  of  Xenophon 
with  rhetorical  detail,  has  any  independent  historical  value. 
Occasionally,  however,  Theopompus  or  Ephorus  furnishes  him 
with  supplementary  items  from  sources  other  than  Xenophon. 
These,  and  these  alone,  are  worthy  of  serious  consideration. 

Chapters  xxxviL  3-xxxix.,  dealing  with  the  last  days  and 
the  end  of  Alcibiades,  subjects  about  which  Xenophon  is  si- 
lent, are  based  mainly  upon  Theopompus,  and  contain  much 
romantic  invention. 

It  is,  then,  a  brilliant  mosaic  which  Plutarch  has  given  us 
in  his  Alcibiades,  a  Life  which  must  rank  with  such  master- 
pieces as  the  Themistocles  or  the  Pericles.  And  Plutarch 
evidently  feels  the  spell  which  the  fascinating  villain  cast 
upon  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  He  condemns  hiin 
*  with  reluctance  and  parts  from  him  with  sorrow.  For  Alci- 
biades, as  Adolf  Holm  has  said,  was  the  concentrated  embodi- 
ment of  aU  the  brilliant  powers  and  all  the  brilliant  failings 
of  the  Athenians  in  the  second  half  of  the  fifth  century.  « In 
hoc,  quid  natura  efficere  possit,  videtur  experta.  Constat 
enim  inter  omnes,  qui  de  eo  memoriae  prodiderunt,  nihil  illo 
fuisse  excellentius  vel  in  vitiis  vel  in  virtutibus  "  (Nepos,  Ale. 
il).  


ANALYSIS  OF  THE  ALCIBIADES 


51 


Alphabetical  List  of  Authors  cited  by  Plutarch  in  his 
Alcibiades. 


Andocides XXL  1-4 

Antiphon  .......    HI. 

Antisthenes I,  2 

Archestratus XVL  5 

Archippus i^  4 

Aristophanes      ,    .    .  I.  4 ;  XVL  2 

Cleanthes VI.  1 

Critias XXXIILl 

Demosthenes x.  2 

Duris  of  Samos  ....  XXXIL  2 

Epliorus XXXIL  3 

Eupolis XIIL  2 

Euripides.    ,    .   L  8 ;  XI.  1  and  2 ; 

XXIIL8 


Hellanicns XXI.  1 

Isocrates XII.  3 

Phaeax XIII.  2 

Phrynichna XX.  4 

Plato  Com XIIL  5 

Plato  PhU L2;  IV.  4 

Theophrastus X.  3 

Theopompus XXXIL  8 

Thucydides    .    .    ,    VI.  2  ;  XL  1 ; 

XIIL  3  ;  XX.  4 
Xenophon XXIUL  8 


NICIAS 

I.  I  THINK  that  Nicias  is  a  suitable  parallel  to 
Crassus,  and  the  Sicilian  to  the  Parthian  disaster.     I 
must  therefore  at  once,  and  in  all  modesty,  entreat 
my  readers  not  to  imagine  for  an  instant  that,  in 
my  narration  of  what  Thucydides  has  inimitably  set 
forth,  surpassing  even  himself  in  pathos,  vividness, 
and  variety,  I  am  so  disposed  as  was  Timaeus.     He,  2 
confidently  hoping  to  excel  Thucydides  m  skill,  and 
to  make  Philistus  seem  altogether  tedious  and  clumsy, 
pushes  his  history  along  through  the  conflicts  and 
sea-fights  and   harangues  which   those  writers  had 
already  handled  with  the  greatest  success,  showing 
himself,  m  rivalry  with  them,  not  even  so  much  as 
"  by  Lydian  car  a  footman  slowly  plodding  ",  to  use 
Pindar's  comparison,  nay  rather  a  perfect  example  of 
senile  learning  and  youthful  conceit,  and,   in  the 
words  of  Diphilus,  "  obese,  stuffed  to  the  full  with 
Sicilian  grease ".     Indeed,  he  often  lapses  unawares 
into  the  manner  of  Xenarchus,  as,  for  instance,  when  3 
he  says  he  thinks  it  was  a  bad  omen  for  the  Athe- 
nians  that  Nicias,  whose  name  was  derived  from  vic- 
tory, declined  at  first  to  head  their  expedition ;   also 
that  by  the  mutilation  of  the  Herrnm,  Heaven  indi- 
cated to  them  in  advance  that  by  the  hands  of  Her- 
mocrates  the  son  of  Hermon  they  were  to  suffer  most 
of  their  reverses  during  the  war ;  and,  further,  that 


56 


NICIAS 


it  was  fitting  that  Heracles  should  aid  the  Syracus- 
ans,  for  the  sake  of  their  patron  goddess  Cora,  who 
delivered  Cerberus  into  his  hands,  but  should  be 
angry  with  the  Athenians,  because  they  were  trying 
to  succor  the  Egestaeans,  although  they  were  descend- 
ants of  the  Trojans,  whose  city  he  had  once  destroyed 
because  of  the  wrong  done  him  by  Laomedon  their 
king. 

*  As  for  Timaeus,  he  may  possibly  have  been  moved 
to  write  thus  in  the  exercise  of  the  same  delicate 
taste  which  led  him  to  correct  the  language  of  Philis- 
tus  and  abuse  Plato  and  Aristotle ;  but  as  for  me,  I 
feel  that  jealous  rivalry  with  other  writers  in  matters 
of  diction  is  altogether  undignified  and  pedantic,  and 
if  it  be  practiced  toward  what  is  beyond  all  imitation, 

5  utterly  silly.  At  all  events,  those  deeds  which  Thu- 
cydidesand  Philistus  have  set  forth,  —  since  I  cannot 
entirely  pass  them  by,  indicating  as  they  do  the  na- 
ture of  my  hero  and  the  disposition  which  lay  hidden 
beneath  his  many  great  sufferings,  —  I  have  run  over 
briefly,  and  as  I  felt  compelled  to  do  in  order  to  es- 
cape the  reputation  of  utter  carelessness  and  sloth; 
but  those  details  which  have  escaped  most  writers, 
and  which  others  have  mentioned  casually,  or  which 
are  found  on  ancient  votive  offerings  or  in  public  de- 
crees, these  I  have  tried  to  collect,  not  massing  to- 
gether useless  material  of  research,  but  handing  on 
such  as  furthers  the  appreciation  of  character  and 
temperament. 

II.   Accordingly,  I  may  say  of  Nicias,  in  the  first 
place,  what  Aristotle  wrote,  namely,  that  the  three 


SUPPORTED  BY  TWO  PARTIES 


57 


best  citizens  of  Athens,  —  men  of  a  fatherly  good 
will  and  friendship  for  the  people,  were  Nicias  the 
son  of  Niceratus,  Thucydides  the  son  of  Melesias,  and 
Theramenes  the  son  of  Hagnon.  However,  this  was 
true  of  the  last  in  lesser  degree  than  of  the  other  two, 
because,  as  an  alien  from  Ceos,  he  was  flouted  for  his 
inferior  parentage ;  and  on  account  of  his  not  being 
steadfast,  but  ever  trying  to  court  both  sides  in  his 
political  program,  was  nicknamed  ''  Cothurnus  ".  Of 
the  other  two,  Thucydides  was  the  older  man,  and  as  2 
head  of  the  aristocratic  party,  —  the  party  of  the 
"  Good  and  True  ",  often  antagonized  Pericles  in  his 
efforts  to  win  the  favor  of  the  people.  Nicias  was  a 
younger  man.  He  was  held  in  some  repute  even 
while  Pericles  was  still  living,  so  that  he  was  not 
only  associated  with  him  as  general,  but  frequently 
had  independent  command  himself;  after  Pericles 
was  dead,  Nicias  was  at  once  put  forward  into  the 
position  of  leader,  especially  by  the  party  of  the  rich 
and  notable.  These  made  him  their  political  buffer 
against  the  disgusting  boldness  of  Cleon. 

And  yet,  for  that  matter,  the  common  people  also  3 
held  him  in  favor  and  aided  his  ambitions.  For  al- 
though Cleon  had  great  influence  with  them,  "by 
coddling  them,  and  giving  frequent  jobs  for  pay  ",  yet 
the  very  men  whose  favor  he  thus  sought  to  gain 
were  aware  of  his  rapacity  and  fierce  effrontery,  and 
for  the  most  part  preferred  Nicias  as  their  champion. 
The  dignity  of  Nicias  was  not  of  the  harsh,  offensive 
sort,  but  was  blended  with  much  circumspection,  and 
won  control  of  the  people  from  the  very  fact  that  he 


68 


NICIAS 


4  was  thought  to  be  afraid  of  them.  Timid  as  he  was 
by  nature,  and  distrustful  of  success,  in  war  he  man- 
aged to  succeed  in  hiding  his  cowardice  under  a  cloak 
of  good  fortune,  for  he  was  imif ormly  successful  as  a 
general;  while  in  political  life  his  nervousness,  and 
the  ease  with  which  he  could  be  put  to  confusion  by 
accusers,  actually  tended  to  make  him  popular,  and 
gave  him  in  high  degree  that  power  which  comes 
from  the  favor  of  the  people,  because  they  fear  men 
who  scorn  them,  but  exalt  men  who  fear  them.  The 
multitude  can  have  no  greater  honor  shown  them 
by  their  superiors  than  not  to  be  despised. 

III.  Now  Pericles  led  the  city  by  virtue  of  his  na- 
tive excellence  and  powerful  eloquence,  and  had  no 
need  to  assume  any  persuasive  mannerisms  with  the 
multitude ;  but  Nicias,  since  he  lacked  such  powers, 
but  had  excessive  wealth,  sought  by  means  of  this  to 

»win  the  leadership  of  the  peopla  And  since  he  de- 
spaired of  his  ability  to  vie  successfully  with  the 
versatile  buffoonery  by  which  Cleon  catered  to  the 
pleasure  of  the  Athenians,  he  tried  to  captivate  the 
people  by  choral  and  gymnastic  exhibitions,  and  other 
like  prodigalities,  outdoing  in  the  costliness  and 
elegance  of  these  all  his  predecessors  and  contem- 

sporaries.  Of  his  dedicatory  offerings  there  remain 
standing  in  my  day  not  only  the  Palladium  on  the 
Acropolis,  —  the  one  which  has  lost  its  gilding,  but 
also  the  temple  surmounted  by  choregic  tripods,  in 
the  precinct  of  Dionysus.  For  he  was  often  victorious 
with  choruses,  and  was  never  defeated.  A  story  is 
told  how,  in  one  of  his  choral  exhibitions,  a  house 


LAVISH  OUTLAYS  AT  DELOS  59 

servant  of  his  appeared  in  the  costume  of  Dionysus, 
very  fair  to  see,  and  very  tall,  the  down  of  youth  still 
upon  his  face.  The  Athenians  were  delighted  at  the 
sight,  and  applauded  for  a  long  time.  At  last  Nicias 
rose  and  said  he  deemed  it  an  unholy  thing  that  one 
who  had  been  acclaimed  as  a  god  should  be  a  slave, 
and  gave  the  youth  his  freedom. 

It  is  matter  of  record  also  how  splendid  and  wor-4 
thy  of  the  god  his  lavish  outlays  at  Delos  were.     The 
choirs  which  cities  used  to  send  thither  to  sing  the 
praises  of  the  god  were  wont  to  put  in  at  the  island  m 
haphazard  fashion.   The  throng  of  worshippers  would 
meet  them  at  the  ship  and  bid  them  sing,  not  with  the 
decorum  due,  but  as  they  were  hastily  and  tumultu- 
ously  disembarking,  and  while  they  were  actually 
donning  their  chaplets   and  vestments.     But  when  6 
Nicias  conducted  the  festal  embassy,  he  landed  first 
on  the  neighboring  island  of  Rheneia,  with  his  choir, 
sacrificial  victims,  and  other  equipment.     Then,  with 
the  bridge  of  boats  which  he  had  brought  along  with 
him  from  Athens,  where  it  had  been  made  to  measure 
and  signally  adorned  with  gildings  and  dyed  stuffs  and 
garlands  and  tapestries,  he  spanned  during  the  night 
the  strait  between  Rheneia  and  Delos,  which  is  not 
wide.     At  break  of  day  he  led  his  festal  procession  in 
honor  of  the  god,  and  his  choir  arrayed  in  lavish 
splendor  and  singing  as  it  marched,  across  the  bridge 
to  land.     After  the  sacrifices  and  the  choral  contests  e 
and  the  banquets  were  over,  he  erected  the  famous 
bronze  palm-tree  as  a  thank  offering  to  the  god,  and 
consecrated  to  his  service  a  tract  of  land  which  he 


60 


NICIAS 


bought  at  the  price  of  ten  thousand  drachmas,  the 
revenues  from  which  the  Delians  were  to  expend  in 
sacrificial  banquets,  at  which  many  blessings  should 
be  invoked  upon  Nicias  from  the  gods.  This  stipula- 
tion he  actually  had  graven  on  the  stone  which  he 
left  in  Delos  to  be  as  it  were  the  sentry  over  his  ben- 
efaction. The  palm-tree,  however,  was  torn  away  by 
the  wind  and  fell  against  the  colossal  statue  of  the 
god  which  the  Naxians  erected,  and  overturned  it. 

IV.  In  this  course  it  is  clear  that  there  was  much 
ostentatious  publicity,  looking  towards  increase  of 
reputation  and  gratification  of  ambition ;  and  yet,  to 
judge  from  the  rest  of  the  man's  bent  and  character, 
one  might  feel  sure  that  such  favor  and  control  of 
the  people  as  he  thus  secured  were  rather  a  corollary 
to  his  reverent  piety.  For  he  was  one  of  those  who  are 
excessively  terrified  at  heavenly  portents,  and  was 

«" addicted  to  divination",  as  Thucydides  says.  And 
in  one  of  the  dialogues  of  Pasiphon  it  is  recorded  that 
he  sacrificed  every  day  to  the  gods,  and  that  he  kept 
a  diviner  at  his  house,  ostensibly  for  the  constant  en- 
quiries which  he  made  about  public  affairs,  whereas 
most  of  his  enquiries  were  really  made  about  his  own 
private  matters,  and  especially  about  his  silver  mines; 
for  he  had  large  interests  in  the  mining  district  of 
Laurium,  and  they  were  exceedingly  profitable,  al- 
though worked  at  great  risks.  He  maintained  a 
multitude  of  slaves  in  these  mines,  and  the  most  of 

3  his  substance  was  in  silver.  For  this  reason  he  had  a 
large  retinue  of  people  who  wanted  his  money,  and 
who  got  it  too ;  for  he  gave  to  those  who  could  work 


TESTIMONIES   OF  THE  COMIC  POETS  61 

him  harm  no  less  than  to  those  who  deserved  his 
favors,  and  in  general  his  cowardice  was  a  source  of 
revenue  to  the  base  as  his  liberality  was  to  the  good. 

Witness  to  this  can  be  had  from  the  comic  poets.  4 
Telecleides  composed  the  following  verses  on  a  cer- 
tain  public  informer :  — 

**  So  then  Charicles  gave  a  mina  that  he  might  not  tell  of  him 
How  he  was  his  mother's  first-born,  -  and  her  purse-born  child  at  that. 
Minas  four  he  got  from  Nicias,  son  of  rich  Niceratus ; 
But  the  reason  why  he  gave  them,  though  I  know  it  very  well, 
I  ni  not  teU  ;  the  man  's  my  friend,  and  I  think  him  wise  and  true." 

And  the  personage  who  is  held  up  to  ridicule  by  5 
Eupolis,  in  his  Maricas,  fetches  in  a  sort  of  lazy 
pauper,  and  says :  — 


(Maricas) 

(Pauper) 

(Maricas) 

(Chorus  J) 

(Pauper) 


"  How  long  a  time  now  since  you  were  with  Nicias  ? 
I  have  not  seen  him.  —saving  just  now  on  the  Square, 
The  man  admits  he  actually  did  see  Nicias ! 
Yet  what  possessed  him  thus  to  see  him  ?  *  On  the  make '  t 
O  hear  ye,  hear,  my  comrades,  O  ! 
Our  Nicias  was  taken  in  the  very  act ! 
What  I  you  ?  O  crazy-witted  folk ! 
You  catch  a  man  so  good  in  sin  of  any  sort  ?  " 

And  the  Cleon  of  Aristophanes  blusteringly  says :  —  e 

"  1 11  laryngize  the  orators,  and  Nicias  1 11  rattle." 

And  Phrynichus  gently  hints  at  his  lack  of  courage 
and  his  panic-stricken  air  in  these  verses : 

"  He  was  a  right  good  citizen,  and  I  know  it  well ; 
He  would  n*t  cringe  and  creep  as  Nicias  always  does." 

V.  Since  he  was  disposed  to  be  thus  cautious  of 
public  informers,  he  would  neither  dine  with  a  fellow 
citizen,  nor  indulge  in  general  interchange  of  views  or 


62 


NICIAS 


HIS  CAUTION  AND  GOOD  FORTUNE 


63 


famiKar  social  intercourse ;  indeed,  he  had  no  leisure 
for  such  pastimes,  but  when  he  was  general,  he  re- 
mained at  the  War  Department  till  night,  and  when 
he  was  councillor,  he  was  first  to  reach  and  last  to 
leave  the  Council.  And  even  if  he  had  no  public 
business  to  transact,  he  was  inaccessible  and  hard  to 
come  at,  keeping  close  at  home  with  his  doors  bolted. 

a  His  friends  used  to  accost  those  who  were  in  waiting 
at  his  door  and  beg  them  to  be  indulgent  with  Nicias, 
for  he  was  even  then  engaged  upon  sundry  urgent 
matters  of  public  business. 

The  man  who  most  aided  him  in  playing  this  role, 
and  helped  him  to  assume  his  costume  of  pompous 
dignity,  was  Hiero.  He  had  been  reared  in  the 
household  of  Nicias,  and  thoroughly  instructed  by 
him  in  letters  and  literature.  He  pretended  to  be 
the  son  of  Dionysius,  sumamed  Chalcus,  whose  poems 
are  indeed  extant,  and  who,  as  leader  of  the  coloniz- 

3  ing  expedition  to  Italy,  founded  Thurii.  This  Hiero 
it  was  who  managed  for  Nicias  his  secret  dealings 
with  the  seers,  and  who  was  forever  putting  forth 
among  the  people  moving  tales  about  the  life  of 
severe  hardships  which  his  patron  led  for  the  sake 
of  the  city.  "  Why ! "  said  he,  "  even  when  he  takes 
his  bath  and  when  he  eats  his  dinner,  some  public 
business  or  other  is  sure  to  confront  him ;  he  neglects 
his  private  interests  in  his  anxiety  for  the  common 
good,  and  scarcely  gets  to  sleep  till   others   wake, 

4 That's  the  reason  why  he  is  physically  all  run  down, 
and  is  not  affable  or  pleasant  to  his  friends,  nay,  he 
has  actually  lost  these  too  in  addition  to  his  sub- 


stance, and  all  in  the  service  of  the  city.  Other 
public  men  not  only  win  friends  but  enrich  them- 
selves through  their  influence  as  public  speakers,  and 
then  fare  sumptuously,  and  make  a  plaything  of  the 
service  of  the  city."  In  point  of  fact,  such  was  the 
life  of  Nicias  that  he  could  say  of  himself  what 
Agamemnon  did :  — 


**  Sooth,  as  master  of  my  life 
My  pomp  I  have,  and  to  the  populace  I  *m  a  slave. 


f* 


VI.  He  saw  that  the  people,  upon  occasion,  served 
their  own  turn  with  experienced  men  of  eloquence  or 
surpassing  ability,  but  ever  looked  with  suspicious 
and  cautious  eyes  upon  such  powers,  and  tried  to 
abate  the  pride  and  reputation  to  which  they  gave 
rise.  This  was  manifest  in  their  fining  Pericles,  and 
ostracising  Damon,  and  discrediting,  as  most  of  them 
did,  Antiphon  the  Rhamnusian,  and  finally,  above  all, 
in  the  fate  of  Paches  the  captor  of  Lesbos,  who,  while  a 
he  was  giving  the  official  account  of  his  generalship, 
drew  his  sword  in  the  very  court-room  and  slew  him- 
self. Nicias  therefore  tried  to  evade  commands  which 
were  likely  to  be  laborious  and  long,  and  whenever  he 
did  serve  as  general  made  safety  his  chief  aim,  and  so 
was  successful  for  the  most  part,  as  was  natural. 
He  did  not,  however,  ascribe  his  achievements  to  any 
wisdom  or  ability  or  valor  of  his  own,  but  rather 
credited  them  to  fortune,  and  took  modest  refuge  in 
the  divine  ordering  of  events,  relinquishing  thereby 
part  of  his  reputation  because  of  the  envy  which 
would  otherwise  be  awakened. 


64 


NICIAS 


•  Events  bore  witness  to  his  wisdom,  for  in  the  many 
great  reverses  which  the  city  suffered  at  that  period 
he  had  absolutely  no  share.  It  was  under  the  lead- 
ership of  Calliades  and  Xenophon  that  his  country- 
men met  defeat  at  the  hands  of  the  Chalcidians  in 
Thrace ;  the  Aetolian  disaster  occurred  when  Demos- 
thenes was  in  command;  Hippocrates  was  general 
when  a  thousand  citizens  were  sacrificed  at  Delium ; 
and  for  the  plague  Pericles  incurred  the  most  blame, 
because  he  shut  up  the  throng  from  the  country  in 
the  city  on  account  of  the  war,  and  the  plague  was 
the  result  of  their  change  of  abode  and  their  un- 

4  wonted  manner  of  living.  For  all  these  things  Nicias 
was  free  from  blame,  while  as  general  he  captured 
Cythera,  an  island  favorably  situated  for  the  com- 
mand of  Laconia  and  inhabited  by  Lacedaemonians ; 
he  captured  also  many  places  in  Thrace  which  had 
revolted,  and  brought  them  back  to  their  allegiance  ; 
having  shut  up  the  Megarians  in  their  city  he 
straightway  seized  the  island  of  Minoa,  and  shortly 
after,  from  this  base  of  operations,  got  possession  of 
Nisaea ;  he  also  made  a  descent  upon  the  territory  of 
Corinth,  defeated  the  Corinthians  in  battle  and  slew 
many  of  them,  including  Lycophron  their  general. 

5  Here  it  befell  him,  when  his  dead  were  taken  up 
for  burial,  that  two  of  his  men  were  left  unnoticed 
on  the  field.  As  soon  as  he  was  made  aware  of  this, 
he  halted  his  armament  and  sent  a  herald  back  to  the 
enemy  asking  leave  to  take  up  his  dead.  And  yet  by 
usage  and  unwritten  law  the  side  which  secured  the 
right  to  take  up  its  dead  by  a  truce,  was  thought  to 


PYLOS  AND  SPHACTERIA  65 

renounce  all  claims  to  victory,  and  for  those  who  so 
obtained  this  right,  the  erection  of  a  trophy  of  victory 
was  unlawful,  since  they  are  victors  who  possess  the 
field ;  but  petitioners  do  not  possess  the  field,  since 
they  cannot  take  what  they  want.  Notwithstanding  e 
this,  Nicias  endured  rather  to  abandon  the  honor 
and  reputation  of  his  victory  than  to  leave  unburied 
two  of  his  fellow  citizens. 

He  also  ravaged  the  coasts  of  Laconia,  routed  the 
Lacedaemonians  who  opposed  him,  captured  Thyrea, 
which  the  Aeginetans  held,  and  took  his  prisoners  off 
alive  to  Athens. 

VII.   After  Demosthenes  had  fortified  Pylos,  the 
Peloponnesians  came  up  against  it  by  land  and  sea,  a 
battle  was  fought,  and  about  four  hundred  Spartans 
were  shut  off  on  the  island  of  Sphacteria.     Then  the 
Athenians  considered  that  their  capture  would  be  a 
great  achievement,  as  was  true.     But  the  siege  was 
diflBcult  and  toilsome,  since  the  region  afforded  no 
fresh  water.     Even  in  summer  the  shipping  of  the 
necessary  supplies  round  Peloponnesus  was  a  long  and 
expensive  process,  while  in  winter  it  was  sure  to  be 
perilous  if  not  altogether  impossible.     The  Athenians 
were  therefore  m  bad  humor,  and  repented  them  of 
having  repulsed  an  embassy  of  the  Lacedaemonians 
which  had  come  to  treat  with  them  for  a  truce  and 
peace.     They  had  repulsed  it  because  Cleon,  chiefly  2 
on  account  of  Nicias,  was  opposed  to  it.     He  hated 
Nicias,  and  when  he  saw  him  zealously  cooperating 
with  the  Lacedaemonians,  persuaded  the  people  to 
vote  down  the  truce.     So  when  the  siege  grew  longer 


6Q 


NICIAS 


and  longer,  and  they  learned  that  their  forces  were 
in  terrible  straits,  they  were  angry  with  Cleon. 

»  He,  however,  laid  all  the  blame  on  Nicias,  and  de- 
nounced him,  saying  that  it  was  through  cowardice 
and  weakness  that  he  was  letting  the  men  on  the 
island  slip  through  his  hands,  whereas,  had  he  him- 
self been  general  instead  of  Nicias,  they  would  not 
have  held  out  so  long.  Thereupon  it  occurred  to  the 
Athenians  to  say  :  "  It 's  not  too  late  !  Why  don't 
you  sail  yourself  and  fetch  the  men?"  Nicias  too 
rose  in  the  Assembly  and  resigned  his  command  of 
the  expedition  to  Pylos  in  favor  of  Cleon,  bidding  him 
take  as  large  a  force  as  he  wished,  and  not  to  vent 
his  boldness  in  mere  words  which  brought  no  peril 
with  them,  but  to  perform  some  deed  for  the  city 

*  which  should  be  worth  its  notice.  At  first  Cleon 
tried  to  draw  back,  confused  by  the  unexpectedness 
of  this  offer;  but  the  Athenians  kept  up  the  same 
cries  of  encouragement,  and  Nicias  kept  taunting  him 
until,  his  ambition  incited  and  on  fire,  he  undertook 
the  command,  and,  besides,  declared  in  so  many 
words  that  within  twenty  days  after  sailing  he  would 
either  slay  the  men  on  the  island  or  bring  them  alive 
to  Athens.  The  Athenians  were  moved  to  hearty 
laughter  at  this  rather  than  to  belief  in  it,  for  they 
were  already  in  the  way  of  treating  his  mad  vanity 
as  a  joke,  and  a  pleasant  one  too. 

5  It  is  said,  for  instance,  that  once  when  the  As- 
sembly was  in  session,  the  people  sat  out  on  the  hill  a 
long  while  waiting  for  him  to  address  them,  and  that 
late  in  the  day  he  came  in  all  garlanded  for  dinner 


DISCREDITED  BY  CLEON'S  SUCCESS  67 

and  asked  them  to  adjourn  the  Assembly  to  the  mor- 
row. "  I  'm  busy  to-day,"  he  said,  "  I  'm  going  to 
entertain  some  guests,  and  have  already  sacrificed  to 
the  gods."  The  Athenians  burst  out  laughmg,  then 
rose  up  and  dissolved  the  Assembly. 

VIII.   However,  this  tune  he  had  good  fortune, 
served  as  general  most  successfully  along  with  De- 
mosthenes, and  within  the  time  which  he  had  speci- 
fied brought  home  as  prisoners  of  war,  their  arms 
surrendered,  all  the  Spartans  on  Sphacteria  who  had 
not  faUen  in  battle.     This  success  of  Cleon's  brought 
great  discredit  on  Nicias.    He  was  thought  not  merely 
to  have  cast  away  his  shield,  but  to  have  done  some- 
thing far  more  disgraceful  and  base  m  voluntarily 
throwing  up  his  command  out  of  cowardice,  and  m 
abandoning  to  his  enemy  the  opportunity  for  such  a 
great  success,  —  actually  voting  himself  out  of  office. 
For  this,  Aristophanes  again  scoffs  at  him  in  his  a 
Birds,  in  words  like  these: 

"And  lo  !  by  Zeus!  we  can  no  longer  doze  about, 
—  We  have  no  time,  —nor  shiUy-shaUy-niciasize;'* 

and  in  his  Farmers,  where  he  writes : 

**  I  want  to  go  a-fianning.'* 

"  Pray  who  hinders  you  ?  " 
"  You  people  do.    Come !  Let  me  give  a  thousand  drachms 
If  you  *11  release  me  from  my  offices." 

"  'Tis  done  I 
Yours  make  two  thousand,  with  the  ones  that  Nicias  gave," 

And  besides,  he  wrought  no  little  harm  to  the  city  3 
in  allowing  Cleon  to  have  such  an  access  of  reputa- 
tion and  influence  that  he  launched  out  into  offensive 


68 


NICIAS 


THE  PEACEMAKER 


pride  and  ungovernable  boldness  and  inflicted  many 
mischiefs  on  the  city,  the  bitter  fruits  of  which  he 
himself  was  by  no  means  last  to  reap.  Worst  of  all, 
Cleon  stripped  the  bema  of  its  decorum,  setting  the 
fashion  of  yelling  when  he  harangued  the  people,  of 
girding  up  his  robe,  slapping  his  thigh,  and  running 
about  while  speaking.  He  thus  imbued  the  man- 
agers of  the  city's  policies  with  that  levity  and  con- 
tempt for  propriety  which  soon  after  confounded  the 
whole  state. 

IX.  Just  about  that  time  Alcibiades  was  beginning 
to  be  a  power  at  Athens.  For  a  popular  leader  he 
was  not  such  an  unmixed  evil  as  Cleon.  The  soil  of 
Egypt,  it  is  said,  by  reason  of  its  very  excellence,  pro- 
duces alike 

"  Drugs  of  which  many  are  good,  intennixed,  but  many  are  deadly  **. 

In  like  manner  the  nature  of  Alcibiades,  setting  as  it 
did  with  full  and  strong  currents  towards  both  good 
and  evil,  furnished  cause  and  beginning  for  serious 
2  innovations.  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  even  after 
Nicias  was  rid  of  Cleon,  he  did  not  get  opportunity  to 
lull  the  city  into  perfect  rest  and  calm,  but,  when  he 
had  actually  set  the  state  fairly  in  the  path  of  safety, 
was  hurled  from  it  by  an  impetuous  onset  of  Alci- 
biades' ambition,  and  plunged  again  into  war. 

This  was  the  way  it  came  about.  The  men  most 
hostile  to  the  peace  of  Hellas  were  Cleon  and  Brasi- 
das.  Of  these,  war  covered  up  the  baseness  of  the 
one  and  adorned  the  excellence  of  the  other ;  that  is 
to  say,  it  gave  the  one  opportunities  for  great  iniqui- 


69 


ties,  the  other  for  great  achievements.     After  theses 
men  had  both  fallen  in  one  and  the  same  battle  before 
Amphipolis,  Nicias  found  at  once  that  the  Spartans 
had  long  been  eager  for  peace,  and  that  the  Athenians 
were  no   longer   in   good  heart  for  the  war;  that 
both  were,  so  to  speak,  unstrung,  and  glad  to  let  their 
arms  drop  to  their  sides.    He  therefore  strove  to  unite 
the  two  cities  in  friendship,  and  to  free  the  rest  of  the 
Hellenes  from  ills,  as  well  as  to  give  hunself  a  season 
of  rest,  and  so  to  make  secure  for  all  coming  time  the 
name  which  he  had  for  success.     The  men  who  were* 
weU-to-do,  and  the  elderly  men,  and  most  of  the 
farmers,  he  found  inclined  to  peace  from  the  start ; 
and  after  he  had  talked  privately  with  many  of  the 
rest,  taught  them  his  views,  and  blunted  the  edge  of 
their  desire  for  war,  then  he  at  once  held  out  hopes 
to  the  Spartans,  and  urgently  invited  them  to  seek 
for  peace.     They  had  confidence  in  him,  not  only  be- 
cause of  his  usual  fairness  towards  them,  but  especi- 
ally because  he  had  shown  kind  attentions  to  those 
of  their  men  who  had  been  captured  at  Pylos  and 
kept  in  prison  at  Athens,  had  treated  them  humanely, 
and  so  eased  their  misfortune.     The  two  parties  had  5 
before  this  made  a  sort  of  stay  of  mutual  hostil- 
ities  for  a  year,  and  during  this  time  they  had  held 
conferences  with  one  another,  and  tasted  again  the 
sweets  of  security  and  leisure  and  intercourse  with 
friends  and  kindred,  so  that  they  yearned  for  that 
old  life  which  was  undefiled  by  war,  and  listened 
gladly  when  choirs  sang  such  strains  as 

•*  Let  my  spear  lie  unused  for  the  spider  to  cover  with  webs," 


'  y.siTu^i 


^JJJBlj 


70 


NICIAS 


and  gladly  called  to  mind  the  saying,  *'  In  peace  the 
speaker  is  waked  not  by  the  trumpet,  but  by  the 

6  cock."  Accordingly,  they  heaped  abuse  on  those 
who  said  that  the  war  was  fated  to  last  thrice  nine 
years,  and  then,  in  this  spirit,  debated  the  whole 
issue,  and  made  peace.  Most  men  held  it  to  be  a 
manifest  release  from  ills,  and  Nicias  was  in  every 
mouth.  They  said  he  was  a  man  beloved  of  God,  and 
that  Heaven  had  bestowed  on  him,  for  his  reverent 
piety,  the  privilege  of  giving  his  name  to  the  greatest 

7  and  fairest  of  blessings.  They  really  thought  that 
the  peace  was  the  work  of  Nicias,  as  the  war  had 
been  that  of  Pericles.  The  one,  on  slight  occasion, 
was  thought  to  have  plunged  the  Hellenes  into  great 
calamities;  the  other  had  persuaded  them  to  forget 
the  greatest  injuries  and  become  friends.  There- 
fore, to  this  day,  men  call  that  peace  "The  Peace 
of  Nicias". 

X.  The  articles  of  peace  required  that  the  strong- 
holds and  cities  and  prisoners  of  war  which  each 
party  had  taken  from  the  other  should  be  restored, 
and  since  that  party  was  to  make  restoration  first  on 
whom  the  lot  fell,  the  lot  was  secretly  bought  up  by 
Nicias,  so  that  the  Lacedaemonians  were  the  first  to 
make  restoration.  This  is  the  testimony  of  Theo- 
2  phrastus.  But  when  the  Corinthians  and  Boeotians, 
who  were  vexed  at  the  course  things  were  taking, 
seemed  likely,  by  their  accusations  and  complaints, 
to  revive  the  war,  Nicias  persuaded  the  Athenians 
and  Lacedaemonians  to  make  the  general  peace  se- 
cure by   the  mighty   bond   of   a  mutual   alliance, 


TRICKED  BY  ALCIBIADES  71 

whereby  they  should  become  more  formidable  to  all 
seceders  and  better  assured  of  each  other. 

Such  being  the  course  of  events,  Alcibiades,  whos 
was  naturally  indisposed  to  be  quiet,  and  who  was 
incensed  at  the  Lacedaemonians  because  they  scorn- 
fully   ignored    him   in    their   fond    atta<jhment   to 
Nicias,  promptly  opposed  and  obstructed  the  general 
peace.     At  the  outset  he  made  no  headway ;  but  a 
little  while  after,  seeing  that  the  Athenians  were  not 
so  weU  pleased  as  before  with  the  Lacedaemonians, 
but  thought  they  had  wronged  them  in  makmg  a 
separate  aUiance  with  the  Boeotians,  and  in  not  re- 
storing  Panactum  with  its  walls  intact,  nor  Amphi- 
polis  at  all,  he  laid  great  stress  on  these  grounds  of 
complaint,  and  tried  to  incense  the  people  over  each 
one  of  them.     Finally  he  managed  to  have  an  em- 4 
bassy  sent  from  Argos  to  Athens,  and  tried  to  effect 
a  separate  alUance  between  these  two  cities.     Am- 
bassadors came  at  once  from  Sparta  with  full  powers 
to  treat  all  issues,  and  at  their  preliminary  audience 
with  the  Council  were  thought  by  that  body  to  come 
with  nothing  but  just  proposals.    But  Alcibiades  was 
afraid  they  would  bring  the  Assembly  over  to  their 
views  with  the  same  arguments  which  had  won  the 
Coimcil.     He  therefore  circumvented  them  by  deceits 
fully  swearing  that  he  would  cooperate  with  them 
fully  in  the  Assembly  if  they  would  only  not  claim 
nor  even  admit  that  they  had  come  with  full  powers 
to  treat  all  issues ;  for  thus,  he  declared,  they  would 
most  surely  attain  their  desires.     After  they  were  5 
persuaded  by  him,  and  had  put  themselves  out  of  the 


.1 


72 


NICIAS 


FEUD  WITH  ALCIBIADES 


78 


I'  I 


guiding  hands  of  Nicias  and  into  his,  he  introduced 
them  to  the  Assembly,  and  asked  them  first  whether 
they  had  come  with  full  powers  to  treat  all  issues. 
On  their  saying  "  No  "  to  this,  he  surprised  them  by 
changing  front  and  calling  on  the  members  of  the 
Council  who  were  present  to  bear  witness  to  what 
they  had  said  before  that  body.  He  then  urged  the 
people  not  to  follow,  much  less  trust,  men  who  were 
such  manifest  liars,  and  who  said  now  "  Yes  "  and 

enow  "  No  "  to  the  same  question.  The  ambassadors 
were  overwhelmed  with  confusion,  naturally,  and 
Nicias  was  unable  to  say  a  word, — struck  dumb 
with  amazement  and  anguish.  Therefore  the  people 
were  at  once  eager  to  call  in  the  Argive  embassy  and 
make  the  alliance  it  desired,  but  there  came  a  slight 
earthquake  shock  just  then,  luckily  for  Nicias,  and  the 
Assembly  was  dissolved.  On  the  following  day,  when 
the  people  had  assembled  again,  by  dint  of  great  ef- 
fort and  much  talking  Nicias  succeeded,  with  diffi- 
culty, in  persuading  them  to  refrain  from  the  action 
desired  with  Argos,  and  to  send  him  on  an  embassy  to 
the  Lacedaemonians,  assuring  them  that  everything 
would  thus  turn  out  well. 

7  But  when  he  came  to  Sparta,  though  in  other 
ways  he  was  honored  by  them  as  a  true  man  and  one 
who  had  been  zealous  in  their  behalf,  still,  he  ac- 
complished  nothing  that  he  purposed,  but  was  beaten 
by  the  party  there  which  had  Boeotian  sympathies, 
and  so  came  back  home,  not  merely  with  loss  of  rep- 
utation and  under  harsh  abuse,  but  actually  in  bodily 
fear  of  the  Athenians.     They  were  vexed  and  indig- 


nant because  they  had  been  persuaded  by  him  to  re- 
store so  many  eminent  prisoners  of  war ;  for  the  men 
who  had  been  brought  to  the  city  from  Pylos  be- 
longed to  the  leading  families  of  Sparta,  and  the  most 
influential  men  there  were  their  friends  and  kinsmen. 
However,  the  Athenians  took  no  very  harsh  measures  8 
in  their  anger  against  Nicias,  but  elected  Alcibiades 
general,  made  an  alliance  with  the  Mantineans  and 
Eleans,  who  had  seceded  from  the  Lacedaemonians, 
as  well  as  with  the  Argives,  sent  freebooters  to  Pylos 
to  ravage  Laconia,  and  thus  plunged  again  into  war. 
XL  At  last  the  feud  between  Nicias  and  Alcibi- 
ades became  so  intense  that  recourse  was  had  to  the 
process  of  ostracism.  This  the  people  used  to  insti- 
tute from  time  to  time  when  they  wished  to  remove 
for  ten  years,  by  the  ostrakon-ballot,  any  one  man 
who  was  an  object  of  suspicion  generally  because  of 
his  great  reputation,  or  of  jealousy  because  of  his 
great  wealth.  Both  the  rivals  were  thus  involved  in 
great  confusion  and  peril,  since  one  or  the  other  must 
in  any  event  succumb  to  the  ostracism.  In  the  case  a 
of  Alcibiades,  men  loathed  his  manner  of  life  and 
dreaded  his  boldness,  as  will  be  shown  more  at  length 
in  his  biography;  and  in  the  case  of  Nicias,  his 
wealth  made  him  an  object  of  jealousy.  Above  all 
else,  his  way  of  life,  which  was  not  genial  nor  pop- 
ular but  unsocial  and  aristocratic,  seemed  alien  and 
foreign ;  and  since  he  often  opposed  the  people's  de- 
sires and  tried  to  force  them  against  their  wishes 
into  the  way  of  their  advantage,  he  was  burdensome 
to  them.     To  tell  the  simple  truth,  it  was  a  struggle  * 


'iS;sasi^^^.S3t 


'  •    .  V  'k*  v;  #.•#«  ^4  ..  4  d^-^^j  »>*i.^V     ^^V'**'^.-* 


'V«  <C«'  •«  '■'• 


«  /«'.  t/fyti. 


74 


NICIAS 


between  the  young  men  who  wanted  war  and  the 
elderly  men  who  wanted  peace ;  one  party  proposed 
to  ostracise  Nicias,  the  other  Alcibiades. 

**  But  in  a  time  of  sedition,  the  base  man  too  is  in  honor," 

and  so  in  this  case  also  the  people  divided  into  two  fac 
tions^  and  thereby  made  room  for  the  most  aggressive 
and  mischievous  men.  Among  these  was  Hyper- 
bolus  of  the  deme  Perithoedae,  a  man  whose  boldness 
was  not  due  to  any  influence  that  he  possessed,  but 
who  came  to  influence  by  virtue  of  his  boldness,  and 
became,  by  reason  of  the  very  credit  which  he  had  in 

4  the  city,  a  discredit  to  the  city.  This  fellow  at  that 
time  thought  himself  beyond  the  reach  of  ostracism, 
since,  forsooth,  he  was  a  likelier  candidate  for  the 
stocks;  but  he  expected  that  when  one  of  the  ri- 
vals had  been  banished  he  might  himself  become 
the  antagonist  of  the  one  who  was  left,  and  so  it 
was  plain  that  he  was  pleased  at  their  feud,  and 
that  he  was  inciting  the  people  against  both  of 
them.  Accordingly,  when  Nicias  and  Alcibiades  be- 
came  aware  of  his  baseness,  they  took  secret  counsel 
with  one  another,  united  and  harmonized  their  fac- 
tions, and  carried  the  day,  so  that  neither  of  them 
was  ostracised,  but  Hyperbolus  instead. 

5  For  the  time  being  this  delighted  and  amused  the 
people,  but  afterwards  they  were  vexed  to  think  that 
the  ordinance  of  ostracism  had  been  degraded  by  its 
application  to  so  unworthy  a  man.  They  thought 
there  was  a  certain  dignity  in  chastisement,  or  rather, 
they  regarded  the  ostracism  as  a  chastisement  in  the 


OSTRACISM  OF  HYPERBOLUS 


75 


cases  of  Thucydides  and  Aristides  and  such  men,  but 
in  the  case  of  Hyperbolus  as  an  honor,  and  as  good 
ground  for  boasting  on  his  part,  since  for  his  base- 
ness he  had  met  with  the  same  fate  as  the  best  men. 
And  so  Plato  the  comic  poet  somewhere  said  ofe 
him:  — 

**  Indeed  he  suffered  worthy  fete  for  men  of  old  ; 
A  fate  unworthy  though  of  him  and  of  his  brands. 
For  such  as  him  the  ostrakon  was  ne'er  devised." 

And  in  the  end  no  one  was  ever  ostracised  after  Hy- 
perbolus, but  he  was  the  last,  as  Hipparchus  of  Cho- 
largus,  a  kinsman  of  the  famous  tyrant  Peisistratus, 
was  the  first  to  be  so  banished. 

Verily  fortune  is  an  uncertain  thing,  and  incalcu-  7 
lable.  Had  Nicias  run  the  risk  with  Alcibiades  of 
being  ostracised,  he  had  either  carried  the  day,  ex- 
pelled his  rival,  and  then  dwelt  safely  in  the  city ;  or, 
defeated,  he  had  himself  gone  forth  from  the  city  be- 
fore his  last  misfortunes,  and  had  preserved  the  rep- 
utation of  being  a  most  excellent  general. 

I  am  well  aware  that  Theophrastus  says  that  Hy- 
perbolus was  ostracised  when  Phaeax,  and  not  Nicias, 
was  striving  against  Alcibiades,  but  most  writers 
state  the  case  as  I  have  done. 

XII.  It  was  Nicias,  at  any  rate,  who,  when  an 
embassy  came  from  Egesta  and  Leontini  seeking  to 
persuade  the  Athenians  to  undertake  an  expedition 
against  Sicily,  opposed  the  measure,  only  to  be  de- 
feated by  the  ambitious  purposes  of  Alcibiades.  Be- 
fore the  Assembly  had  met  at  all,  Alcibiades  had 
already  corrupted  the  multitude  and  got  them  into 


U  V  •">^  '«  rf>  '•  t^ 


■»«.•*>> 


>:■-.%■  ^^4.    . 


.  f^/^t  <*rJ**»^-.v 


76 


NICIAS 


SIGNS  AND  PORTENTS 


77 


his  power  by  means  of  his  sanguine  promises,  so  that 
the  youth  in  their  training-schools  and  the  old  men 
in  their  work-shops  and  lounging-places  would  sit 
in  clusters  drawing  maps  of  Sicily,  charts  of  the  sea 
about  it,  and  plans  of  the  harbors  and  districts  of  the 

2  island  which  look  towards  Libya.  For  they  did  not 
regard  Sicily  itself  as  the  prize  of  the  war,  but  rather 
as  a  mere  base  of  operations,  purposing  therefrom  to 
wage  a  contest  with  the  Carthaginians  and  get  posses- 
sion both  of  Libya  and  of  all  the  sea  this  side  the 
Pillars  of  Heracles. 

Since,  therefore,  their  hearts  were  fixed  on  this,  Ni- 
cias,  in  his  opposition  to  them,  had  few  men  of  influence 
to  contend  on  his  side.  The  well-to-do  citizens  feared 
accusations  of  trying  to  escape  contributions  for  the 
support  of  the  navy,  and  so,  despite  their  better  judg- 

3  ment,  held  their  peace.  But  Nicias  did  not  faint  nor 
grow  weary.  Even  after  the  Athenians  had  actually 
voted  for  the  war  and  elected  him  general  first,  and 
after  him  Alcibiades  and  Lamachus,  in  a  second  ses- 
sion of  the  Assembly  he  rose  and  tried  to  divert  them 
from  their  purpose  by  the  most  solemn  adjurations, 
and  at  last  accused  Alcibiades  of  satisfying  his  own 
private  greed  and  ambition  in  thus  forcing  the  city 

4  into  grievous  perils  beyond  the  seas.  Still,  he  made 
no  headway,  nay,  he  was  held  all  the  more  essential 
to  the  enterprise  because  of  the  experience  from 
which  he  spoke.  There  would  be  great  security,  his 
hearers  thought,  against  the  daring  of  Alcibiades  and 
the  roughness  of  Lamachus,  if  his  well  known  cau- 
tion were  blended  with  their  qualities.     And  so  he 


succeeded  only  in  confirming  the  previous  vote.  For 
Demostratus,  the  popular  leader  who  was  most  active 
in  spurring  the  Athenians  on  to  the  war,  rose  and  de- 
clared that  he  would  stop  the  mouth  of  Nicias  from 
uttering  vain  protests ;  so  he  introduced  a  decree  to 
the  effect  that  the  generals  have  full  and  independ- 
ent powers  in  counsel  and  in  action,  both  at  home 
and  at  the  seat  of  war,  and  persuaded  the  people  to 
vote  it. 

XIII.  And  yet  the  priesthood  also  is  said  to  have 
offered  much  opposition  to  the  expedition.  But  Alci- 
biades had  other  diviners  in  his  private  service,  and 
from  sundry  oracles  reputed  ancient  he  cited  one  say- 
ing that  great  fame  would  be  won  by  the  Athenians 
in  Sicily.  To  his  delight  also  certain  envoys  who 
had  been  sent  to  the  shrine  of  Ammon  came  back 
with  an  oracle  declaring  that  the  Athenians  would 
capture  all  the  Syracusans ;  but  utterances  of  opposite 
import  the  envoys  concealed,  for  fear  of  using  words  of 
ill  omen.  For  no  signs  could  deter  the  people  from  the  2 
expedition,  were  they  ever  so  obvious  and  clear,  such 
as,  for  instance,  the  mutilation  of  the  Eermae.  These 
statues  were  all  disfigured  in  a  single  night,  except 
one,  called  the  Hermes  of  Andocides,  a  dedication  of 
the  Aegeid  tribe,  standing  in  front  of  what  was  at 
that  time  the  house  of  Andocides.  Then  there  was 
the  affair  of  the  altar  of  the  Twelve  Grods.  An  un- 
known man  leaped  upon  it  all  of  a  sudden,  bestrode 
it,  and  then  mutilated  himself  with  a  stone. 

At  Delphi,   moreover,   there  stood  a    Palladium,  3 
made  of  gold  and  set  upon  a  bronze  palm-tree,  a  ded- 


I 


78 


NICIAS 


ication  of  the  city  of  Athens  from  the  spofls  of  her 
valor  in  the  Persian  wars.  Ravens  alighted  on  this 
image  and  pecked  it  for  many  days  together;  they 
also  bit  off  the  fruit  of  the  palm-tree,  which  was  of 

4  gold,  and  cast  it  down  to  the  ground.  The  Atheni- 
ans, it  is  true,  said  that  this  whole  story  was  an  in- 
vention of  the  Delphians,  at  the  mstigation  of  the 
Syracusans;  but  at  any  rate  when  a  certain  oracle 
bade  them  seek  the  priestess  of  Athena  at  Clazomenae, 
they  sent  and  fetched  the  woman,  and  lo !  her  name 
was  Peace.  And  this,  as  it  seemed,  was  the  advice 
which  the  divinity  would  give  the  city  at  that  time, 
namely,  to  seek  peace. 

5  It  was  either  because  he  feared  such  signs  as  these, 
or  because,  from  mere  human  calculation,  he  was 
alarmed  about  the  expedition,  that  the  astrologer 
Meton,  who  had  been  given  a  certain  station  of  com- 
mand, pretended  to  be  mad  and  set  his  house  on  fire. 
Some,  however,  tell  the  story  in  this  way:  Meton 
made  no  pretence  of  madness,  but  burned  his  house 
down  in  the  night,  and  then  came  forward  publicly 
in  great  dejection  and  begged  his  fellow  citizens,  m 
view  of  the  great  calamity  which  had  befallen  him, 
to  release  from  the   expedition   his  son,  who  was 

6  about  to  sail  for  Sicily  in  command  of  a  trireme.  To 
Socrates  the  wise  man  also,  his  divine  guide,  making 
use  of  the  customary  tokens  for  his  enlightenment, 
indicated  plainly  that  the  expedition  would  make  for 
the  ruin  of  the  city.  Socrates  let  this  be  known  to  his 
Ultimate  friends,  and  the  story  had  a  wide  circulation. 

7  Not  a  few  also  were  somewhat  disconcerted  by  the 


CAUTION  AND  HESITATION 


79 


character  of  the  days  in  the  midst  of  which  they  dis- 
patched their  armament.  The  women  were  celebrat- 
ing at  that  time  the  festival  of  Adonis,  and  in  many 
places  throughout  the  city  little  images  of  the  god 
were  laid  out  for  burial,  and  funeral  rites  were  held 
about  them,  with  wailing  cries  of  women,  so  that 
those  who  cared  anything  for  such  matters  were  dis- 
tressed, and  feared  lest  that  powerful  armament,  with 
all  the  splendor  and  vigor  which  were  so  mani- 
fest in  it,  should  speedily  wither  away  like  funeral 
herbs. 

XIV.  Now  that  Nicias  should  oppose  the  voting 
of  the  expedition,  and  should  not  be  so  buoyed  up  by 
vain  hopes  nor  so  crazed  by  the  magnitude  of  his 
command  as  to  change  his  real  opinion,  —  this 
marked  him  as  a  man  of  honesty  and  discretion.  But 
when  he  availed  naught  either  in  his  efforts  to  divert 
the  people  from  the  war  or  in  his  desire  to  be  relieved 
of  his  command,  —  the  people  as  it  were  picking  him 
up  bodily  and  setting  him  over  their  forces  as  gen- 
eral, —  then  it  was  no  longer  a  time  for  the  exceeding  2 
caution  and  hesitation  which  he  displayed,  gazing 
back  homewards  from  his  ship  like  a  child,  and 
many  times  resuming  and  dwelling  on  the  thought 
that  the  people  had  not  yielded  to  his  reasonings,  till 
he  took  the  edge  from  the  zeal  of  his  colleagues  in 
command  and  lost  the  fittest  time  for  action.  He 
ought  rather  at  once  to  have  engaged  the  enemy  at 
close  quarters  and  put  fortune  to  the  test  in  struggles 
for  the  mastery.  In  stead  of  this,  while  Lamachus 
urged  that  they  sail  direct  to  Syracuse  and  give  battle 


;i 


80 


NICIAS 


close  to  the  city,  and  Alcibiades  that  they  rob  the  Syra- 
cusans  of  their  allied  cities  first  and  then  proceed 
against  them,  Nicias  proposed  and  urged  in  opposition 
that  they  make  their  way  quietly  by  sea  along  the 
coasts  of  Sicily,  circumnavigate  the  island,  make  a 
display  of  their  troops  and  triremes,  and  then  sail 
back  to  Athens,  after  having  first  culled  out  a  small 
part  of  their  force  to  give  the  Egestaeans  a  taste  of 
succor.  In  this  way  he  soon  relaxed  the  resolution 
and  depressed  the  spirits  of  his  men. 

4  After  a  little  while  the  Athenians  summoned  Alci- 
biades home  to  stand  his  trial,  and  then  Nicias,  who 
nominally  had  still  a  colleague  in  the  command,  but 
really  wielded  sole  power,  made  no  end  of  sitting 
idle,  or  cruising  aimlessly  about,  or  taking  deliberate 
counsel,  until  the  vigorous  hopes  of  his  men  grew  old 
and  feeble,  and  the  consternation  and  fear  with  which 
the  first  sight  of  his  forces  had  filled  his  enemies 
slowly  subsided. 

5  While  Alcibiades  was  yet  with  the  fleet,  sixty  ships 
sailed  for  Syracuse,  of  which  fifty  lay  out  in  the 
oflSng,  drawn  up  so  as  to  command  the  harbor,  while 
ten  rowed  in  to  reconnoiter.  These  made  formal 
proclamation  by  voice  of  herald  that  the  people  of 
Leontini  should  return  to  their  homes.  They  also 
captured  a  ship  of  the  enemy  with  tablets  on  board 
in  which  the  Syracusans  had  recorded  lists  of  their 
citizens  by  tribes.  These  lists  had  been  deposited 
at  some  distance  from  the  city,  in  the  sanctuary  of 
Olympian  Zeus,  but  had  been  sent  for  at  that  time 
with  a  view  to  determining  and  enrolling  those  who 


NICIAS  AND  LAMACHUS  81 

had  come  to  military  age.  Now  when  these  hade 
been  captured  by  the  Athenians  and  brought  to 
their  generals,  and  the  number  of  names  was  seen, 
the  soothsayers  were  in  distress  lest  in  this  circum- 
stance lie  the  fulfillment  of  what  was  predicted  by 
the  oracle  which  said:  "The  Athenians  shall  take 
all  the  Syracusans."  However,  they  say  that  it  was 
in  another  circumstance  altogether  that  this  proph- 
ecy was  fulfilled  for  the  Athenians,  namely,  at  the 
time  when  Callippus  the  Athenian  slew  Dion  and 
got  possession  of  Syracuse. 

XV.   A  little  while  after  this  Alcibiades  sailed 
away  from  Sicily,  and  then  Nicias  took  the  entire 
command.     Lamachus  was,  it  is  true,  a  sturdy  and 
honorable  man,  one  who  put  forth  his  might  without 
stint  m  battle,  but  so  poor  and  petty  that  in  every 
campaign   where   he   served   as   general   he  would 
charge  up  to  the  Athenian  people  certain  trifling 
moneys  for  his  own  clothes  and  boots.     Nicias,  on  2 
the  contrary,  was  a  man  of  great  dignity  and  im- 
portance, especially  because  of  his  wealth  and  repu- 
tation.    It  is  said  that  once  at  the  War  Department, 
when  his  fellow  commanders  were  deliberating  on 
some  matter  of  general  moment,  he  bade  Sophocles 
the  poet  state  his  opinion  first,  as  being  the  senior 
general  on  the  Board.     Thereupon  Sophocles  said: 
"  I  am  the  oldest  man,  it  is  true,  but  you  are  the 
senior  general." 

So  also  in  the  present  case  he  brought  Lamachus  3 
under  his  orders,  although  more  of  a  general  than 
himself,  and,  always  using  his  forces  in  a  cautious 


82 


NICIAS 


and  hesitating  manner,  he  first  gave  the  enemy 
courage  by  cruising  around  Sicily  as  far  as  possible 
from  them,  and  then,  by  attacking  the  diminutive 
little  city  of  Hybla,  and  going  off  without  taking 

4  it,  he  won  their  supreme  contempt.  Finally,  he 
went  back  to  Catana  without  effecting  anything  at 
all  except  the  overthrow  of  Hyccara,  a  barbarian 
fastness.  From  this  place  it  is  said  that  Lais  the 
courtesan  was  sold  as  a  prisoner  of  war,  being  still 
a  girl,  and  brought  into  Peloponnesus. 

XVI.  The  summer  was  now  spent  when  Nicias 
learned  that  the  Syracusans  had  plucked  up  courage 
and  were  going  to  take  the  initiative  and  come  out 
against  him.  Their  horsemen  already  had  the  in- 
science  to  ride  up  to  the  Athenian  camp  and  ask 
its  occupants  whether  they  had  come  to  share  the 
homes  of  the  Catanians  or  to  restore  the  Leontines 
to  their  old  homes.  At  last,  therefore,  and  re- 
luctantly, Nicias  set  out  to  sail  against  Syracuse. 

a  Wishing  to  establish  his  forces  there  deliberately  and 
without  fear  of  interruption  from  the  enemy,  he  se- 
cretly sent  on  a  man  of  Catana  with  a  message  for 
the  Syracusans.  If  they  wished  to  find  the  camp 
and  equipment  of  the  Athenians  abandoned  of  de- 
fenders, they  must  come  in  full  force  to  Catana  on 
a  given  day,  for  that  the  friends  of  the  Syracusans 
in  the  city,  where  the  Athenians  spent  most  of  their 
time,  had  determined,  on  perceiving  their  approach, 
to  seize  the  gate  and  set  fire  to  the  Athenian  fleet ; 
the  conspirators  were  already  many  and  awaited 
their  coming. 


FIRST  ATTACK  ON  SYRACUSE  83 

This  was  the  best  generalship  that  Nicias  displayed  s 
in  Sicily.     He  brought  his  enemy  out  of  their  city 
m  full  force,  thereby  almost  emptying  it  of  defend- 
ers, while  he  himself  put  out  to  sea  from  Catana, 
got  control  of  the  enemy's  harbors,  and  seized  a  spot 
for  his  camp  where  he  was  confident  that  he  would 
suffer  least  injury  from  that  arm  of  the  service  in 
which  he  was  inferior,  the  cavalry,  and  meet  no 
hindrance  in  fighting  with  that  arm  whereon  he  most 
reUed.     When  the  Syracusans  hurried  back  from  4 
Catana  and  drew  up  in  order  of  battle  before  their 
own  city,  Nicias  led  his  Athenians  swiftly  against 
them  and  carried  the  day.    He  did  not  slay  many  of 
the  enemy,  it  is  true,  for  their  horsemen  prevented 
his  pursuit ;  he  had  to  content  himself  with  cutting 
to  pieces  and  destroymg  the  bridges  over  the  river, 
and  thus  gave  Hermocrates  occasion  to  say,  as  he 
sought  to  encourage  the  Syracusans,  that  Nicias  was 
ridiculous  in  maneuvering  so  as  not  to  give  battle, 
as  though  it  was  not  for  battle  that  he  had  crossed 
the  seas.     However,  he  did  infuse  fear  and  mighty  s 
consternation  into  the  Syracusans,  so  that  in  place 
of  their  fifteen  generals  then  in  office  they  elected 
three  others,  to  whom  the  people  pledged  them- 
selves under  oath  that  they  would  suffer  them  to 
command  with  full  and  independent  powers. 

The  Olympieum  was  hard  by,  and  the  Athenians  e 
set  out  to  seize  it,  inasmuch  as  it  contained  many 
offerings  of  gold  and  silver.     But  Nicias  purposely 
delayed  operations  until  it  was  too  late,  and  aUowed 
a  garrison  from  Syracuse  to  enter  in,  because  he 


84 


NICIAS 


thought  that  if  his  soldiers  plundered  the  temple's 
treasures  the  commonwealth  would  get  no  advantage 
from  it^  and  he  himself  would  incur  the  blame  for 

7  the  sacrilege.  Of  his  victory,  which  was  so  noised 
about,  he  made  no  use  whatever,  but  after  a  few 
days  had  elapsed  withdrew  again  to  Naxos,  and  there 
spent  the  winter,  making  large  outlays  on  his  vast 
armament,  but  effecting  little  in  his  negotiations 
with  the  few  Sicels  who  thought  of  coming  over 
to  his  side.  The  Syracusans  therefore  plucked  up 
courage  again,  marched  out  to  Catana,  ravaged  the 
fields,  and  burnt  what  had  been  the  Athenian  camp. 

•  These  things  all  men  laid  to  the  charge  of  Nicias, 
since,  as  they  said,  by  his  excessive  calculation  and 
hesitation  and  caution  he  let  the  proper  time  for 
action  go  by  for  ever.  When  he  was  once  in  action 
no  one  could  find  fault  with  the  man,  for  after  he 
had  set  out  to  do  a  thing  he  was  vigorous  and 
effective;  but  in  venturing  out  to  do  it  he  was 
hesitating  and  timid. 

XVII.  At  any  rate,  when  he  moved  his  arma- 
ment back  to  Syracuse,  he  showed  such  generalship, 
and  made  his  approach  with  such  speed  and  secur- 
ity, that  he  put  in  at  Thapsus  with  his  fleet  and 
landed  his  men  unobserved,  seized  Epipolae  before 
the  enemy  could  prevent,  defeated  the  picked  com- 
panies which  came  to  its  rescue  with  a  loss  of  three 
hundred  men,  and  even  routed  the  cavalry  of  the 
enemy,  which  was  thought  to  be  invincible. 

a  But  what  most  of  all  filled  the  Sicilians  with 
terror   and   the  Hellenes  with   incredulity  was  the 


INVESTMENT  OF  SYRACUSE  85 

fa<;t  that  in  a  short  time  he  carried  a  wall  around 
Syracuse,  a  city  fully  as  large  as  Athens,  although 
the  unevenness  of  the  territory  about  it,  its  prox- 
imity  to  the  sea,  and  its  adjacent  marshes,  made  the 
task  of  surrounding  it  with  such  a  wall  very  diffi- 
cult.     But  he  came  within  an  ace  of  bringing  this  3 
great  task  to  completion,  —  a  man  who  did  not  even 
have  sound  health  for  such  great  concerns,  but  was 
sick  of  a  disease  in  the  kidneys.     To  this  it  is  only 
fair  to  ascribe  the  unfinished  part  of  the  work.     I 
can  but  admire  the  watchful   care   of  the  general 
and  the  noble  valor  of  his  soldiers  in  what  they  did 
accomplish.     Euripides,  after  their  defeat  and  de-* 
struction,  composed  an  epitaph  for  them,  in  which 
he  said:  — 

"  These  men  at  Syracuge  eight  times  were  triumphant  as  victors  • 
Heroes  they  were  whUe  the  gods  favored  both  causes  alike.''' 

And  not  eight  times  only,  nay,  more  than  that  you  6 
will  find  that  the  Syracusans  were  beaten  by  them, 
until  the  gods,  as  the  poet  says,  or  fortune,  became 
hostile  to  the  Athenians  at  the  very  pinnacle  of  their 
power. 

XVIII.  Now  in  most  actions  Nicias  took  part, 
despite  his  bodily  infirmity.  But  once,  when  his 
weakness  was  extreme,  he  was  lying  in  bed  within 
the  walls,  attended  by  a  few  servants,  while  Lama- 
chus  with  the  soldiery  was  fighting  the  Syracusans. 
These  were  trying  to  run  a  wall  from  their  city  out 
to  that  which  the  Athenians  were  building,  to  inter- 
sect  it  and  prevent  its  completion.  The  Athenians  2 
prevailed,  and  hurried  off  in  pursuit  with  more  or 


86 


NICIAS 


less  disorder,  so  that  Lamachus  was  isolated,  and 
then  had  to  face  some  Syracusan  horsemen  who  made 
an  onset  upon  him.  Foremost  of  these  was  Calli- 
crates,  a  man  skilled  in  war  and  of  a  high  courage. 
Lamachus  accepted  his  challenge  to  single  combat, 
fought  him,  got  a  mortal  blow  from  him,  but  gave 
him  back  the  like,  and  fell  and  died  along  with  him. 

3  The  Syracusans  got  possession  of  the  body  of  Lam- 
achus, with  its  armor,  and  carried  it  off.  Then  they 
made  a  dash  upon  the  Athenian  walls  where  Nicias 
was,  with  none  to  succor  him.  He  nevertheless, 
necessity  compelling  him,  rose  from  his  bed,  saw 
his  peril,  and  ordered  his  attendants  to  bring  fire 
and  set  it  to  all  the  timbers  that  lay  scattered  in 
front  of  the  walls  for  the  construction  of  siege- 
engines,  and  to  the  engines  themselves.  This  brought 
the  Syracusans  to  a  halt,  and  saved  Nicias  as  well 
as  the  walls  and  stores  of  the  Athenians.  For  when 
the  Syracusans  saw  a  great  flame  rising  between 
them  and  the  walls,  they  withdrew. 

♦  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  Nicias  was  left  sole  gen- 
eral ;  but  he  was  in  great  hopes.  Cities  were  inclin- 
ing to  take  his  side,  and  ships  full  of  grain  came  to 
his  camp  from  every  quarter.  Everybody  hastens  to 
join  a  successful  cause.  Besides,  sundry  proposals  were 
already  coming  to  him  from  those  Syracusans  who 

6  despaired  of  their  city.  At  this  time,  too,  Gylippus, 
who  was  sailing  from  Sparta  to  their  aid,  when  he 
heard  on  his  voyage  how  they  were  walled  up  and  in 
sore  distress,  held  on  his  way,  it  is  true,  but  with  the 
belief  that  Sicily  was  as  good  as  taken,  and  that  he 


HIS  OVERCONFIDENCE  87 

could  only  save  the  cities  of  the  Italian  Greeks,  if 
haply  even  that.  For  the  opinion  gamed  ground  and 
strength  that  the  Athenians  were  all  powerful,  and 
had  a  general  who  was  invmcible  by  reason  of  his 
judgment  and  good  fortune. 

And  Nicias  himself,  contrary  to  his  nature,  wase 
straightway  so  emboldened  by  the  prevalent  momen- 
tum  of  his  good  fortune,  and,  most  of  all,  by  the  secret 
messengers  sent  to  him   from   the    Syracusans    so 
fixed  in  his  belief  that  the  city  was  just  on  the  point 
of  surrendering  conditionaUy,  that  he  made  no  sort  of 
account  of  Gylippus  at  his  approach.     He  did  not 
even  set  an  adequate  watch  against  him.     Where- 
fore, finding  himself  completely  overlooked  and  de- 
spised, the  man  sailed  stealthily  through  the  straits, 
made  a  landing  at  the  farthest  remove  from  Syracuse 
and  collected  a  large  force,  the  Syracusans  being  not 
so  much  as  aware  of  his  presence,  nor  even  expect- 
ing  him.     On  the  contrary,  they  had  actually  caUedy 
an  assembly  to  discuss  the  agreements  to  be  made 
with  Nicias,  and  some  were  already  on  their  way  to 
it,  thinking  that  the  terms  of  peace  should  be  made 
before  their  city  was  completely  walled  up.     For  that 
part  of  the  work  which  remained  to  be  done  was 
quite  small,  and  all  the  material  required  for  it  lay 
strewn  along  the  line. 

XIX.  But  in  this  nick  of  time  and  crisis  of  their 
peril  Gongylus  came  to  them  from  Corinth  with  a 
single  trireme.  All  flocking  to  meet  him,  a^  was 
natural,  he  told  them  that  Gylippus  would  come 
speedily,  and  that  other  shins  of  war  w^rp   «o;i;^^ 


88 


NICIAS 


a  to  their  aid.  Ere  yet  they  could  put  implicit  faith 
in  what  Gongylus  told  them,  there  came  a  messen- 
ger from  Gylippus  bidding  them  come  out  to  meet 
him.  Then  they  plucked  up  heart  and  donned  their 
arms.  No  sooner  had  Gylippus  come  up  than  he  led 
his  men  in  battle  array  against  the  Athenians.  But 
when  Nicias  arrayed  his  men  too  over  against  him, 
Gylippus  halted  under  arms,  and  sent  a  herald  with 
the  message  that  he  offered  the  Athenians  safe  con- 
duct if  they  would  depart  from  Sicily. 

3  Nicias  deigned  no  answer  to  this  ;  but  some  of  his 
soldiers  mocked,  and  asked  the  herald  if  the  pres- 
ence of  a  single  Spartan  cloak  and  staff  had  made 
the  prospects  of  the  Syracusans  on  a  sudden  so  secure 
that  they  could  afford  to  deride  the  Athenians,  who 
had  restored  to  the  Lacedaemonians,  out  of  prison 
and  fetters,  three  hundred  men   far  sturdier  than 

4  Gylippus,  and  longer  haired.  Timaeus  says  that 
the  Sicilians  also  made  no  account  of  Gylippus, 
later  on,  indeed,  because  they  learned  to  know  his 
base  greed  and  penuriousness ;  but  as  soon  as  they 
set  eyes  upon  him  they  jeered  at  his  cloak  and  his 
long  hair.  Then,  however,  Timaeus  himself  says 
that  as  soon  as  Gylippus  showed  himself,  for  all 
the  world  like  an  owl  among  birds,  many  flocked 
to  him,  with  ready  offers  of  military  service.  This 
latter  statement  has  more  truth  in  it  than  his  first, 
for  in  the  staff  and  cloak  of  Gylippus  men  beheld  the 
symbols  of  the  majesty  of  Sparta,  and  rallied  round 

5  them.  Moreover,  that  the  whole  achievement  of  de- 
liverance was  his,  is  the  testimony  not  only  of  Thucyd- 


FIRST  SUCCESSES  OF  GYLIPPUS  89 

ides,  but  also  of  Philistus,  who  was  a  Syracusan,  and 
an  eyewitness  of  the  events  thereof. 

Well  then,  in  the  first  battle  the  Athenians  were 
victors  and  slew  some  few  of  the  Syracusans,  and 
also  Gongylus  the  Corinthian ;  but  on  the  day  fol- 
lowmg  Gylippus  showed  what  a  great  thing  experi- 
ence is.     Although  he  had  the  same  infantry  and  the 
same  cavalry  and  the  same  localities  to  deal  with,  he 
did  not  do  it  in  the  same  way  as  before,  but  changed 
his  tactics,   and   thereby  conquered  the  Athenians. 
And  as  they  fled  to  their  camp,  he  halted  his  Syra-e 
cusans  in  their  pursuit,  and  with  the  very  stones  and 
timbers  which  his  enemies  had  brought  up  for  their 
own  use,  he  carried  on  the  cross  wall  until  it  inter- 
sected the  besiegers'  wall  of  enclosure,  so  that  their 
superior  strength  in  the  field  really  availed  them 
naught. 

After  this  the  Syracusans  plucked  up  heart  and 
went  to  manning  their  ships,  while  their  own  horse- 
men and  those  of  their  allies  would  ride  about  and 
cut  off  many  of  their  besiegers.     Gylippus  also  went  7 
out  in  person  to  the  cities  of  Sicily  and  roused  up  and 
united  them  all  into  vigorous  and  obedient  concert 
with  him.     Nicias   therefore  fell  back  again  upon 
those  views  of  the  undertaking  which  he  had  held 
at  the  outset,  and,  fully  aware  of  the  reversal  which 
it  had  suffered,  became  dejected,  and  wrote  a  dis- 
patch to  the  Athenians  urging  them  to  send  out  an-r 
other  armament,  or  else  to  recall  the  one  already  in 
Sicily,  begging  them  also  in  any  case  to  relieve  him 
of  his  command  because  of  his  disease. 


90 


NICIAS 


XX.    Even  before  this  the  Athenians  had  started 
to  send  another  force  to  Sicily,  but  the  leading  men 
among  them  felt  some  jealousy  of  the  extraordinary 
good  fortune  of  Nicias,  and  so  had  induced  many  de- 
lays.   Now,  however,  they  were  all  eagerness  to  send 
aid.     It  was  therefore  determined  that  Demosthenes 
should  sail  with  a  large  armament  in  the  spring,  and 
while   it  was  yet  winter  Eurymedon   preceded  him 
with  a  smaller  fleet,  bringing  money,  and  announcing 
the  selection  of  colleagues  for  Nicias  from  among  the 
members  of  the  expedition  there,  —  to  wit,  Euthy- 
demus  and  Menander. 
1     But  in  the  mean  time  Nicias  was  suddenly  attacked 
by  land  and  sea.     With  his  fleet,  though  vanquished 
at  first,  he  yet  succeeded  in  repulsing  the  enemy,  and 
sank  many  of  their  ships;  but  he  was  not  prompt 
enough  in  sending  aid  to  his  garrison  at  Plemmyrium, 
and  so  Gylippus,  who  had  fallen  upon  it  suddenly,  cap- 
tured it.     Large  naval  stores  and  moneys  were  in 
deposit  there,  all  of  which  Gylippus  secured,  besides 
3  killing  many  men  and  taking  many  prisoners.    What 
was  most  important  of  all,  he  robbed  Nicias  of  his 
easy  importation  of  supplies.     These  had  been  safely 
and  speedily  brought  in  past  Plemmyrium  as  long 
as  the  Athenians  held  that  post ;  but  now  that  they 
had  been  driven  from  it,  the  process  was  a  difficult 
one,  and  involved  fighting  with  the  enemy  who  lay 
at  anchor  there.    And  besides  all  this,  the  Syracusans 
felt  that  their  fleet  had  been  defeated,  not  through 
any  superior  strength  in  their  enemy,  but  by  reason 
of  their  own  disorderly  pursuit  of  that  enemy.     Ao- 


FIRST  NAVAL  VICTORY  OF  THE  SYRACUSANS    91 

cordingly,  they  were  making  still  more  vigorous  prep- 
arations  to  try  the  issue  again. 

But  Nicias  did  not  wish  a  sea  fight.     He  said  it  4 
would  be  great  folly,  when  such  a  large  armament  wa^ 
saiUng  to  their  aid  and  hurrymg  up  fresh  troops  under 
Demosthenes,  to  fight  the  issue  out  with  inferior  forces, 
and  those  wretchedly  supplied.    Menander  and  Euthy' 
demus,  however,  who  had  just  been  appointed  to  their 
offices,  were  moved  by  an  ambitious  rivalry  with  both 
the  other  generals :  they  longed  to  anticipate  Demos- 
thenes in  some  brilliant  exploit,  and  to  eclipse  Nicias. 
They  therefore  made  much  of  their  city's  reputation.  6 
This,  they  declared  again  and  again,  would  be  alto- 
gether ruined  and  dissipated  if  they  should  show  fear 
when  the  Syra<5usans  sailed  out  to  attack  them ;  and 
so  they  forced  a  decision  to  give  battle  by  sea.     But 
they  were   simply  out-maneuvered  by  Ariston,  the 
Corinthian  captain,  in  the  matter  of  the  noon-day 
meal,  as  Thucydides  relates,  and  then  worsted  in 
a^jtion,  with  the  loss  of  many  men.     And  so  a  great 
despair  encompassed  Nicias;   he  had  met  with  dis- 
aster while  in  sole  command,  and  was  now  again 
brought  to  grief  by  his  colleagues. 
^  XXI.   But  at  this  juncture  Demosthenes  hove  in 
sight  off  the  harbors,  most  resplendent  in  his  array, 
and  most  terrifying  to  the  enemy.     He  brought  five 
thousand  hopUtes  on  seventy-three  ships  of  war,  be- 
sides darters  and  archers  and  slingers  to  no  less  a  num- 
ber than  three  thousand.     What  with  the  gleam  of  his 
arms  and  the  insignia  of  his  triremes  and  the  multitude 
of  his  coxswains  and  pipers,  he  made  a  spectacular  dis- 


92 


NICIAS 


play  and  one  which  smote  the  enemy  with  dismay. 

2  Again,  then,  as  was  natural,  fear  reigned  among  the 
Syracusans.  They  saw  before  them  no  final  release 
from  their  perils,  but  only  useless  toils  and  vain  self- 
destruction. 

But  the  joy  of  Nicias  at  the  presence  of  this  fresh 
force  was  not  long  lived.  Nay,  at  the  very  first 
council  of  war,  when  Demosthenes  urged  an  immedi- 
ate attack  upon  the  enemy,  a  settlement  of  the  whole 
struggle  by  the  speediest  hazard,  and  either  the  cap- 
ture of  Syracuse  or  else  a  return  home,  he  was  in 
fearful  amaze  at  such  aggressive  daring,  and  begged 

5  that  nothing  be  done  rashly  or  foolishly.  Delay,  he 
said,  was  sure  to  work  against  the  enemy ;  they  no 
longer  had  money  to  spend,  and  their  allies  would 
not  longer  stand  by  them ;  let  them  only  be  really 
distressed  by  the  straits  they  were  in,  and  they  would 
soon  come  to  him  again  for  terms,  as  they  had  done 
before.  For  not  a  few  of  the  men  of  Syracuse  were 
in  secret  communication  with  Nicias.  They  urged 
him  to  bide  his  time,  on  the  ground  that  even  now 
they  were  worn  out  by  the  war  and  weary  of  Gylip- 
pus,  and  that  if  their  necessities  should  but  increase 

4  a  little,  they  would  give  over  altogether.  At  some  of 
these  matters  Nicias  could  only  hint  darkly,  of  others 
he  was  unwilling  to  speak  in  public,  and  so  he  made 
the  generals  think  him  cowardly.  It  was  the  same 
old  story  over  again  with  him,  they  would  say,  — 
delays,  postponements,  and  hairsplitting  distinc- 
tions;  he  had  already  forfeited  the  golden  moment 
by  not  attacking  the  enemy  at  once,  but  rather  going 


NIGHT  ATTACK  UPON  EPIPOLAE  93 

stale  and  winning  their  contempt.  So  they  sided 
with  Demosthenes,  and  Nicias,  with  great  reluctance, 
was  forced  to  yield. 

Therefore  Demosthenes,  with  the  infantry,  made  as 
night  attack  upon  Epipolae.    He  took  some  of  the 
enemy  by  surprise,  and  slew  them ;  others,  who  tried 
to  make  a  stand,  he  routed.     Victorious,  he  did  not 
halt,  but  pressed  on  farther,  until  he  fell  in  with 
the  Boeotians.    These  were  the  first  of  the  enemy  to 
form  in  battle  array,  and  dashing  upon  the  Athenians 
with  spears  at  rest  and  with  loud  shouts,  they  re- 
pulsed them  and  slew  many  of  them  there.    Through  e 
the  whole  army  of  attack  there  was  at  once  panic 
and  confusion.     The  part  that  was  still  pressing  on 
victoriously  was  presently  choked  up  with  the  part 
that  fled,  and  the  part  that  was  yet  coming  up  to  the 
attack  was  beaten  back  by  the  panic-stricken  and  fell 
foul  of  itself,  supposmg  that  the  fugitives  were  pur- 
suers, and  treating  friends  as  foes.     Their  huddling  7 
together  in  fear  and  ignorance,  and  the  deceitfulness 
of  their  vision,  plunged  the  Athenians  into  terrible 
perplexities  and  disasters.     For  the  night  was  one 
which  afforded  neither  absolute  darkness  nor  a  steady 
light.     The  moon  was  low  on  the  horizon,  and  was 
partially  obscured   by  the  numerous  armed   figures 
movmg  to  and  fro  in  her  light,  and  so  she  naturally 
made  even  friends  suspicious  through  fear  of  foes  by 
not  distinguishing  their  forms  clearly.     Besides,  its 
somehow  happened  that  the  Athenians  had  the  moon 
at  their  backs,  so  that  they  cast  their  shadows  on 
their  own  men  in  front  of  them,  and  thus  obscured 


94 


NICIAS 


their  number  and  the  brilliancy  of  their  weapons ; 
while  in  the  case  of  the  enemy,  the  reflection  of  the 
moon  upon  their  shields  made  them  seem  far  more 
numerous  than  they  really  were,  and  more  resplend- 
ent to  the  eye. 

•  Finally,  when  the  Athenians  gave  ground,  the 
enemy  attacked  them  on  all  sides  and  put  them  to 
flight.  Some  of  them  died  at  the  hands  of  their  pur- 
suers, others  by  one  another's  hands,  and  others  still 
by  plunging  down  the  cliffs.  The  scattered  and 
wandering  fugitives,  when  day  came,  were  overtaken 
and  cut  to  pieces  by  the  enemy's  horsemen.  The 
dead  amounted  in  all  to  two  thousand ;  and  of  the 
survivors,  few  saved  their  armor  with  their  lives, 

XXII.  Nicias  was  of  course  overwhelmed  by  this 
disaster,  though  it  did  not  take  him  wholly  by  sur- 
prise, and  he  accused  Demosthenes  of  rashness.   That 
general  defended  himself  on   this  score,  and  then 
urged  that  they  sail  away  as  soon  as  they  could.     No 
other  force  would  come  to  their  aid,  he  declared,  and 
with  the  one  they  had  they  could  not  finally  master 
the  enemy,  since,  even  if  they  were  victorious  in  bat- 
atle,  they  would  be  forced  to  change  their  base  and 
abandon  their  present  position ;  this  was  always,  as 
they  heard,  a  grievous  and  unwholesome  spot  for  en- 
campment, and  now  particularly,  aa  they  saw,  it  was 
actually  deadly  on  account  of  the  season  of  the  year. 
For  it  was  the  beginning  of  autumn ;  many  were  sick 
already,  and  all  were  in  low  spirits. 

But  Nicias  could  not  bear  to  hear  of  sailing  off  in 
flight,  not  because  he  had  no  fear  of  the  Syracusans, 


FATAL  DELAYS  95 

but  because  he  was  more  afraid  of  the  Athenians 
with  their  prosecutions  and  denunciations.     Nothings 
dreadful,  he  would  say,  was  to  be  expected  where 
they  were,  and  even  if  the  worst  should  come,  he 
chose  rather  to  die  at  the  hands  of  his  enemies  than 
at  the  hands  of  his  fellow  citizens.     In  this  he  was 
not  like  mmded  with  Leon  of  Byzantium,  who,  at  a 
later  time,  said  to  his  fellow  citizens :   « I  would 
rather  be  put  to  death  by  you  than  with  you."  How- 
ever, regarding  the  exact  spot  to  which  they  should 
remove  their  camp,  Nicias  said  they  would  deliberate 
at  their  leisure.    When  he  took  this  stand.  Demos-* 
thenes,  who  had  not  been  successful  in  his  previous 
plan,  ceased  trying  to  carry  his  point,  and  so  led  the 
rest  of  the  generals  to  believe  that  Nicias  must  have 
confident  expectations  from  his  correspondents  in  the 
city  in  making  such  a  sturdy  fight  against  the  pro- 
posed retreat ;  they  therefore  sided  with  him.     How- 
ever, a  fresh  army  came  to  the  aid  of  the  Syracusans, 
and  sickness  kept  spreading  among  the  Athenians,  so' 
that  at  last  Nicias  also  decided  in  favor  of  a  change 
of  base,  and  ordered  the  soldiers  to  hold  themselves 
in  readiness  to  sail  away, 

XXIII.  But  just  as  everything  was  prepared  for 
this  and  none  of  the  enemy  were  on  the  watch,  since 
they  did  not  expect  it  at  all,  there  came  an  eclipse  of 
the  moon  by  night.  This  was  a  great  terror  to 
Nicias  and  all  those  who  were  ignorant  or  supersti- 
tious enough  to  quake  at  such  a  sight.  The  obscu- 
ration of  the  sun  towards  the  end  of  the  month  was 
already  understood,  even   by  the  common  folk,  as 


96 


NICIAS 


2  caused  somehow  or  other  by  the  moon ;  but  what  it 
was  that  the  moon  encountered,  and  how,  being  at 
the  full,  she  should  on  a  sudden  lose  her  light  and 
emit  aU  sorts  of  colors,  this  was  no  easy  thing  to  com- 
prehend. Men  thought  it  uncanny,  —  a  sign  sent 
from  God  in  advance  of  divers  great  calamities. 

The  first  man  to  put  in  writing  the  clearest  and 
boldest  of  all  doctrines  about  the  changing  phases  of 
the  moon  was  Anaxagoras.  But  he  was  no  ancient 
authority,  nor  was  his  doctrine  in  high  repute.  It 
was  still  under  seal  of  secrecy,  and  made  its  way 
slowly  among  a  few  only,  who  received  it  with  a  cer- 
tain caution  rather  than  with  implicit  confidence. 

3  Men  could  not  abide  the  natural  philosophers  and 
«  visionaries ",  as  they  were  then  called,  for  that 
they  reduced  the  divine  agency  down  to  irrational 
causes,  blind  forces,  and  necessary  incidents.  Even 
Protagoras  had  to  go  into  exUe,  Anaxagoras  was  with 
difficulty  rescued  from  imprisonment  by  Pericles,  and 
Socrates,  though  he  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
such  matters,  nevertheless  lost  his  life  because  of  his 

4  philosophy.  It  was  not  until  later  times  that  the  ra- 
diant repute  of  Plato,  because  of  the  life  the  man 
led,  and  because  he  subjected  the  compulsions  of  the 
physical  world  to  divine  and  more  sovereign  princi- 
ples, took  away  the  obloquy  of  such  doctrines  as  these, 
and  gave  their  science  free  course  among  all  men. 
At  any  rate,  his  friend  Dion,  although  the  moon  suf- 
fered an  eclipse  at  the  time  when  he  was  about  to  set 
out  from  Zacynthus  on  his  voyage  against  Dionysius, 
was  in  no  wise  disturbed,  but  put  to  sea,  landed  at 
Syracuse,  and  drove  out  the  tyrant. 


FATAL  DELAYS 


97 


However,  it  waa  the  lot  of  Nicias  at  this  time  to  bes 
without  even  a  soothsayer  who  was  expert.     The  one 
who  had  been  his  associate,  and  who  used  to  set  him 
free  from  most  of  his  superstition,  Stilbides,  had  died 
a  short  time  before.   For  indeed  the  sign  from  Heaven, 
as  Philochorus  observed,  was  not  an  obnoxious  one  to 
fugitives,  but  rather  very  propitious ;  concealment  is 
just  what  deeds  of  fear  need,  whereas  light  is  an 
enemy  to  them.    And  besides,  men  were  wont  to  be  one 
their  guard  against  portents  of  sun  and  moon  for  three 
days  only,  as  Autocleides  has  remarked  in  his  Ezeget- 
ics ;  but  Nicias  persuaded  the  Athenians  to  wait  for 
another  full  period  of  the  moon,  as  if,  forsooth,  he  did 
not  see  that  the  planet  was  restored  to  purity  and 
splendor  just  as  soon  as  she  had  passed  beyond  the 
region  which  was  darkened  and  obscured  by  the 
earth. 

XXIV.   Abandoning  almost  every  thing  else,  Nicias 
lay  there  sacrificing  and  divining  untU  the  enemy 
came  up  against  him.     With  their  land  forces  they 
laid  siege  to  his  walls  and  camp,  and  with  their  fleet 
they  took   possession  of  the   harbor   round   about. 
Not  only  the  men  of  Syracuse  in  their  triremes,  but 
even  the  striplings,  on  board  of  fishing  smacks  and 
skifEs,  saUed  up  from  every  side  with  challenges  and 
insults  for  the  Athenians.     To  one  of  these,  a  boy  of  2 
noble  parentage,  Heracleides  by  name,  who  had  driven 
his  boat  well  on  before  the  rest,  an  Attic  ship  gave 
chase,  and  was  like  to  capture  him.     But  the  boy's 
uncle,  Pollichus,  concerned  for  his  safety,  rowed  out 
to  his  defense  with  the  ten  triremes  which  were  under 


98 


NICIAS 


his  orders,  and  then  the  other  commanders,  fearing  in 
turn  for  the  safety  of  Pollichus,  likewise  put  out  for 
the  scene  of  action.  A  fierce  sea  fight  was  thus 
brought  on,  in  which  the  Syracusans  were  victorious, 
and  slew  Eurymedon  along  with  many  others. 

a  Accordingly  the  Athenians  could  no  longer  endure 
to  remain  there,  but  cried  out  loudly  upon  their 
generals  and  bade  them  withdraw  by  land;  for  the 
Syracusans,  immediately  after  their  victory,  had 
blocked  up  and  shut  o£E  the  mouth  of  the  harbor. 
But  Nicias  could  not  consent  to  this.  He  said  it 
would  be  a  terrible  thing  to  abandon  so  many  trans- 
ports, and  triremes  almost  two  hundred  in  number. 

4  So  he  embarked  the  best  of  his  infantry  and  the  most 
efficient  of  his  darters  to  man  a  hundred  and  ten 
triremes;  the  rest  lacked  oars.  Then  he  stationed 
the  remainder  of  his  army  along  the  shore  of  the 
harbor,  abandoning  his  main  camp  and  the  walls 
which  connected  it  with  the  Heracleum.  And  so  it 
was  that  the  Syracusans,  who  had  so  long  been  un- 
able to  offer  their  customary  sacrifice  to  Heracles, 
offered  it  then,  priests  and  generals  going  up  to  the 
temple  for  this  purpose  while  their  triremes  were 
a-manning. 

XXV.  Presently  their  diviners  announced  to  the 
Syracusans  that  the  sacrifices  indicated  a  splendid 
victory  for  them  if  only  they  did  not  begin  the  fight- 
ing, but  acted  on  the  defensive.  Heracles  also,  they 
said,  always  won  the  day  because  he  acted  on  the 
defensive  and  suffered  himself  to  be  attacked  first. 
Thus  encouraged,  they  put  out  from  shore. 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  ATHENIAN  FLEET     99 

This  proved  the  greatest  and  hottest  sea  fight  they 
had   yet   made,   and   roused    as    many  tumultuous 
emotions  in  those  who  were  mere   spectators  as  in 
those  who  did  the  fighting,  because  the  entire  action 
was  in  plain  sight,  and  took  on  shifts  and  turns  which 
were   varied,  unexpected,  and  sudden.     Their   own 
equipment  wrought  the  Athenians  no  less  harm  than 
it  did  their  enemy ;  for  they  fought  against  light  and 
nimble  ships,  which  bore  down  upon  them  from  dif- 
ferent  directions  at  once,  while  their  own  were  heavy 
and  clumsy  and  crowded  together  at  that.     Besides, 
they  were  bombarded  with  stones,  whose  blow  is  just 
as  effective  however  they  Ught ;  whereas  they  could 
only  reply  with  javelins  and  arrows,  whose  proper  cast 
was  disturbed  by  the  tossing  water,  so  that  they  did  not 
all  fly  head  on  to  their  mark.    This  method  of  fighting 
was  taught  the  Syracusans  by  Ariston  the  Corinthian 
captain,  who  fought  zealously  while  the  battle  lasted, 
only  to  fall  just  as  the  Syracusans  were  victorious. 

The  Athenians  suffered  such  great  rout  and  losss 
that  they  were  cut  off  from  flight  by  sea.     Even  by 
land  they  saw  that   their  salvation   was  a  difficult 
matter,  so  that  they  neither  tried  to  hinder  the  enemy 
from  towing  away  their  ships  under  their  very  eyes, 
nor  did  they  ask  the  privilege  of  taking  up  their  dead. 
These,   forsooth,  could  go  unburied;   the  survivors 
were  confronted  with  a  more  pitiful  sight  in  the 
abandonment  of  their  sick  and  wounded,  and  thought 
themselves  more  wretched  still  than  their  dead,  since 
they  were  sure  to  come  with  more  sorrows  than  they 
to  the  same  end  after  all. 


2 


100 


NICIAS 


XXVI.  They  purposed  to  set  out  during  the  night, 
and  Gylippus,  who  saw  that  the  Syracusans  were 
given  over  to  sacrificial  revels  because  of  their  victory 
and  their  festival  of  Heracles,  despaired  of  persuading 
or  compelling  them  to  rise  up  from  their  pleasures  at 
once  and  attack  their  enemy  as  he  departed.  But 
Hermocrates,  all  on  his  own  account,  concocted  a 
trick  to  put  upon  Nicias,  and  sent  certain  companions 
to  him  with  assurances  that  they  were  come  from 
those  men  who  before  this  had  often  held  secret  con- 
ferences with  him.  They  advised  Nicias  not  to  set 
out  during  the  night,  inasmuch  as  the  Syracusans  had 
laid  snares  for  him  and  preoccupied   the  ways   of 

2  escape.  Nicias  was  completely  out-generaled  by  this 
trick,  and  so  ended  by  suffering  in  very  truth  at  the 
hands  of  his  enemies  what  their  lies  had  made  him 
fear.  For  the  Syracusans  set  forth  at  break  of  day, 
occupied  the  diflScult  points  in  the  roads,  fortified  the 
river  fords,  cut  away  the  bridges,  and  posted  their 
cavalry  in  the  smooth  open  spaces,  so  that  no  spot 
was  left  where  the  Athenians  could  go  forward  with- 
out fighting. 

3  They  waited  therefore  all  that  day  and  the  follow- 
ing night,  and  then  set  out,  for  all  the  world  as 
though  they  were  quitting  their  native  city  and  not 
an  enemy's  country,  with  wailings  and  lamentations 
at  their  lack  of  the  necessaries  of  life  and  their  en- 
forced abandonment  of  helpless  friends  and  comrades. 
And  yet  they  regarded  these  present  sorrows  as 
lighter  than  those  which  they  must  expect  to  come. 

4  Many  were  the  fearful  scenes  in  the  camp,  but  the 


STRUGGLES  WITH  DISEASE  AND  DISASTER    101 

most  pitiful  sight  of  all  was  Nicias  hunself,  undone 
by  his  sickness,  and  reduced,  as  he  little  deserved,  to 
a  scanty  diet,  and  to   the  smaUest  supply  of  those 
personal  comforts  whereof  he  stood  so  much  in  need 
because  of  his  disease.    And  yet,  for  all  his  weakness, 
he  persisted  in  doing  what  many  of  the  strong  could 
barely  endure,  and  aU  saw  plainly  that  it  was  not  for 
his  own  sake  or  for  any  mere  love  of  life  that  he  was 
faithful  to  his  tasks,  but  that  for  their  sakes  he  would 
not  give  up  hope.     The  rest,  for  very  fear  and  dis-« 
tress,  had  recourse  to  lamentations  and  tears  •   but 
whenever  he  was  driven  to  this  pass,  it  was  plainly 
because  he  wa^  contrasting  the  shameful  dishonor  to 
which  his  expedition  had  now  come  with  the  great 
and  glorious    successes    which    he    had  hoped  to 
achieve. 

Besides,  it  was  not  merely  the  sight  of  him  now  a 
but  also  the  memory  of  the  arguments  and  exhorta-' 
tions  with  which  he  had  once  tried  to  prevent  the  sail- 
ing of  the  expedition,  that  led  men  to  think  him  aU 
the  more  unworthy  to  suffer  such  hardships  now ;  and 
they  had  no  courage  to  hope  for  aid  from  the  gods 
when  they  reflected  that  a  man  so  devout  as  he,  and 
one  who  had  performed  so  many  great  and  splendid 
religious  services,  now  met  with  no  seemlier  fortune 
than  the  basest  and  most  obscure  man  in  his  army. 

XXVII.  However,  it  waa  this  veiy  Nicias  who 
tned,  both  by  words  and  looks  and  kindly  manner,  to 
show  himself  superior  to  his  dreadful  lot.  And  during 
all  the  march  which  he  conducted  for  eight  successive 
days,  though  sorely  harassed  by  the  enemy,  he  yet 


!•' 


102 


NICIAS 


SURRENDER 


succeeded  in  keeping  his  own  forces  from  defeat,  until 
Demosthenes  and  his  detachment  of  the  army  were 
captured.  These  fell  behind  as  they  fought  their  way 
along,  and  were  surrounded  on  the  estate  of  Polyzelus. 

2  Demosthenes  himself  drew  his  sword  and  gave  himself 
a  thrust ;  he  did  not,  however,  succeed  in  killing  him- 
self, since  the  enemy  quickly  closed  in  upon  him  and 
seized  him. 

When  the  Syracusans  rode  up  and  told  Nicias  of 
this  disaster,  he  first  sent  horsemen  to  make  certain 
that  the  force  of  Demosthenes  was  really  taken,  and 
then  proposed  to  Gylippus  a  truce  permitting  the 
Athenians  to  depart  from  Sicily  after  giving  hostages 
to  the  Syracusans  for  all  the  moneys  which  they  had 

3  expended  on  the  war.  But  they  would  not  entertain 
the  proposal.  Nay,  with  insolent  rage  they  reviled 
and  insulted  him,  and  kept  pelting  him  with  missiles, 
destitute  as  he  was  of  all  the  necessaries  of  life.  How- 
ever, through  that  night  and  the  following  day  he 
managed  to  hold  out,  and  finally  came,  under  constant 
fire,  to  the  river  Asinarus. 

There  some  of  his  men  were  crowded  along  by  the 
enemy  and  hurled  into  the  stream,  while  others,  in 
advance  of  pursuit,  were  impelled  by  their  thirst  to 

4  cast  themselves  in,  and  an  exceeding  great  and  savage 
carnage  raged  in  the  river  itself,  men  being  butchered 
as  they  drank.  At  last  Nicias  fell  down  at  the  feet  of 
Gylippus  and  cried :  "  Have  pity,  Gylippus,  now  that 
you  are  victorious,  not  on  me  at  all,  who  am  notorious 
for  my  great  good  fortune,  but  on  the  rest  of  these 
Athenians.      Remember  that  the  fortunes  of  war  are 


103 


common  to  all,  and  that  the  Athenians,  when  they 
were  in  good  fortune,  used  it  with  moderation  and 
gentleness  toward  you." 

So  spake  Nicias,  and  Gylippus  felt  some  compunc-s 
tion,  both  at  the  sight  of  him,  and  at  what  he  said. 
For  he  knew  that  the  Lacedaemonians  had  been  well 
treated  by  him  when  the  peace  was  made,  and,  besides, 
he  thought  it  would  increase  his  own  fame  if  he  should 
bring  home  alive  the  generals  who  had  opposed  him. 
Therefore  he  raised  Nicias  up,  gave  him  words  of 
cheer,  and  issued  command  to  take  the  rest  of  his  men 
alive.  But  the  command  made  its  way  slowly  along, 
80  that  the  spared  were  far  fewer  than  the  slain.  And 
yet  many  were  stolen  and  hidden  away  by  the 
soldiery. 

The  public  prisoners  were  collected  together,  thee 
fairest  and  tallest  trees  along  the  river  bank  were  hung 
with  the  captured  suits  of  armor,  and  then  the  victors 
crowned  themselves  with  wreaths,  adorned  their  own 
horses  splendidly  while  they  sheared  and  cropped  the 
horses  of  their  conquered  foes,  and  so  marched  into 
the  city.  They  had  brought  to  successful  end  a 
struggle  which  was  the  most  brilliant  ever  made  by 
Hellenes  against  Hellenes,  and  had  won  the  com- 
pletest  of  victories  by  the  most  overwhelming  and 
impetuous  display  of  valor. 

XXVIII.  At  a  general  assembly  of  the  Syracusans 
and  their  allies  Eurycles,  the  popular  leader,  brought 
in  a  written  motion,  first,  that  the  day  on  which  they 
had  taken  Nicias  be  made  a  holy  day,  with  sacrifices 
and  abstention  from  labor,  and  that  the  festival  be 


104 


NICIAS 


called  "  Asinaria  ",  from  the  river  Asinarus  (the  day 
was  the  twenty-sixth  of  the  month  Cameius,  which 
the  Athenians  call  Metageitnion) ;  and  second,  that 
the  serving  men  of  the  Athenians  and  their  inmiediate 
allies  be  sold  into  slavery,  while  the  freemen  and  the 
Sicilian  Hellenes  who  had  joined  them  be  cast  into 
the  stone  quarries  for  watch  and  ward,  —  all  except 
the  generals,  who  should  be  put  to  death. 

«  These  propositions  were  adopted  by  the  S3n:'acusans. 
When  Hermocrates  protested  that  there  was  something 
better  than  victory,  to  wit,  a  noble  use  of  victory,  he 
was  met  with  a  tumult  of  disapproval;  and  when 
Grylippus  demanded  the  Athenian  generals  as  his  prize, 
that  he  might  take  them  alive  to  the  Lacedaemonians, 
the  Syracusans,  now  grown  insolent  with  their  good 

•  fortune,  abused  him  roundly.  They  were  the  more 
ready  to  do  this  because,  all  through  the  war,  they 
had  found  it  hard  to  put  up  with  his  harshness  and 
the  Laconian  style  with  which  he  exercised  his  auth- 
ority. Timaeus  says,  moreover,  that  they  denounced 
his  exceeding  penuriousness  and  avarice,  —  an  ances- 
tral infirmity,  it  would  seem,  since  his  father,  Clean- 
dridas,  was  convicted  of  taking  bribes  and  had  to  flee 
his  country.  And  Gylippus  himself,  for  abstracting 
thirty  talents  from  the  thousand  which  Lysander  had 
sent  to  Sparta,  and  hiding  them  in  the  roof  of  his 
house,  —  as  an  informer  was  prompt  to  show,  —  was 
banished  in  the  deepest  disgrace.  But  this  has  been 
told  with  more  detail  in  my  life  of  Lysander. 

4  Timaeus  denies  that  Demosthenes  and  Nicias  were 
put  to  death  by  the  orders  of  the  Syracusans,  as  Phi- 


FATE  OF  THE  ATHENIANS 


105 


listus  and  Thucydides  state ;  but  rather,  Hermocrates 
sent  word  to  them  of  the  decision  of  the  Assembly 
while  it  was  yet  in  session,  and  with  the  connivance 
of  one  of  their  guards  they  took  their  own  lives.  Their 
bodies,  however,  he  says,  were  cast  out  at  the  prison 
door,  and  lay  there  in  plain  sight  of  all  who  craved 
the  spectacle.  And  I  learn  that  down  to  this  days 
there  is  shown  among  the  treasures  of  a  temple  in 
Syracuse  a  shield  which  is  said  to  have  been  the  shield 
of  Nicias.  It  is  a  welded  mosaic  of  gold  and  purple 
interwoven  with  rare  skill. 

XXIX.  Most  of  the  Athenians  perished  in  the 
stone  quarries  of  disease  and  evil  fare,  their  daily  ra- 
tions being  a  pint  of  barley  meal  and  a  half -pint  of 
water ;  but  not  a  few  were  stolen  away  and  sold 
into  slavery,  or  succeeded  in  passing  themselves 
off  for  serving  men.  These,  when  they  were 
sold,  were  branded  in  the  forehead  with  the  mark 
of  a  horse,  —  yes,  there  were  some  freemen  who 
actually  suffered  this  indignity  in  addition  to  their 
servitude. 

But  even  these  were  helped  by  their  restramed  and  a 
decorous  bearing ;  some  were  speedily  set  free,  and 
some  remained  with  their  masters  in  positions  of  honor. 
Some  also  were  saved  for  the  sake  of  Euripides.  For 
the  Sicilians,  it  would  seem,  more  than  any  other 
Hellenes  outside  the  home  land,  had  a  yearning  fond- 
ness for  his  poetry.  They  were  forever  learning  by 
heart  the  little  specimens  and  morsels  of  it  which  vis- 
itors brought  them  from  time  to  time,  and  imparting 
them  to  one  another  with  fond  delight.     In  the  present  s 


•^V  ■«    «»  '^.^ttt-itf..  .k«vLt *.'•«*«' I 


^  ill  ■  *  ■  a    I  ti    .^  V 


;i».  jl.-'.  '\    C.-i' 


106 


NICIAS 


case,  at  any  rate,  they  say  that  many  Athenians  who 
reached  home  in  safety  greeted  Euripides  with  affec- 
tionate hearts,  and  recounted  to  him,  some  that  they 
had  been  set  free  from  slavery  for  rehearsing  what 
they  remembered  of  his  works ;  and  some  that  when 
they  were  roaming  about  after  the  final  battle  they 
had  received  food  and  drink  for  singing  some  of  his 
choral  hymns.  Surely  then  one  need  not  wonder  at 
the  story  that  the  Caunians,  when  a  vessel  of  theirs 
would  have  put  in  at  the  harbor  of  Syracuse  to  escape 
pursuit  by  pirates,  were  not  admitted  at  first,  but  kept 
outside,  until,  on  being  asked  if  they  knew  any  songs 
of  Euripides,  they  declared  that  they  did  indeed,  and 
were  for  this  reason  suffered  to  bring  their  vessel 
safely  in. 

XXX.  The  Athenians,  they  say,  put  no  faith  in 
the  first  tidings  of  the  calamity,  most  of  all  because 
of  the  messenger  who  brought  them.  A  certain 
stranger,  as  it  would  seem,  landed  at  the  Piraeus,  took 
a  seat  in  a  barber's  shop,  and  began  to  discourse  of 
what  had  happened  as  if  the  Athenians  already  knew 
all  about  it.  The  barber,  on  hearing  this,  before 
others  learned  of  it,  ran  at  the  top  of  his  speed  to  the 
upper  city,  accosted  the  Archons,  and  spread  the  story 
a  right  in  the  market  place.  Consternation  and  confu- 
sion reigned,  naturally,  and  the  Archons  convened  an 
assembly  and  brought  the  man  before  it.  But,  on  be- 
ing asked  from  whom  he  had  learned  the  matter,  he 
was  unable  to  give  any  clear  answer,  and  so  it  was  de- 
cided that  he  was  a  story-maker,  and  was  trying  to 
throw   the  city  into  an  uproar.    He  was  therefore 


THE  MESSENGERS   OF  CALAMITY 


107 


fastened  to  the  wheel  and  racked  a  long  time,  until 
messengers  came  with  the  actual  facts  of  the  whole 
disaster.  So  hard  was  it  for  the  Athenians  to  believe 
that  Nicias  had  suffered  the  fate  which  he  had  often 
foretold  to  them. 


...  /, «.,..  .^^ 


ALCIBIADES 


^v.:»-^.ntfV«ii^iM- 


V 


ALCIBIADES 

L  The  family  of  Alcibiades,  it  is  thought,  may  be 
traced  back  to  Eurysaces,  the  son  of  Aias,  as  its  foun- 
der; and  on  his  mother's  side  he  was  an  Alcmaeonid, 
bemg  the  son  of  Deinomache,  the  daughter  of  Megacles. 
His  father,  Cleinias,  fitted  out  a  trireme  at  his  own 
cost  and  fought  it  gloriously  at  Artemisium.  He  was 
afterwards  slain  at  Coroneia,  fighting  the  Boeotians, 
and  Alcibiades  was  therefore  reared  as  the  ward  of 
Pericles  and  Ariphron,  the  sons  of  Xanthippus,  his 
near  kinsmen. 

It  is  said,  and  with  good  reason,  that  the  favor  and  a 
affection  which  Socrates  showed  him  contributed  not 
a  little  to  his  reputation.  Certam  it  is  that  Nicias, 
Demosthenes,  Lamachus,  Phormio,  Thrasybulus,  and 
Theramenes  were  prominent  men,  and  his  contempora- 
ries, and  yet  we  cannot  so  much  as  name  the  mother 
of  any  one  of  them  ;  whereas,  in  the  case  of  Alcibiades, 
we  even  know  that  his  nurse,  who  was  a  Spartan 
woman,  was  called  Amycla,  and  his  tutor  Zopyrus. 
The  one  fact  is  mentioned  by  Antisthenes,  the  other 
by  Plato. 

As  regards  the  beauty  of  Alcibiades,  it  is  perhaps  3 
unnecessary  to  say  aught,  except   that  it  flowered 
out  with  each  successive  season  of  his  bodily  growth. 


112 


ALCIBIADES 


and  made  him,  alike  in  boyhood,  youth,  and  man- 
hood, lovely  and  pleasant.  The  saying  of  Euripi- 
des, that  "  beauty's  autumn,  too,  is  beautiful ",  is 
not  always  true.  But  it  was  certainly  the  case  with 
Alcibiades,  as  with  few  besides,  because  of  his  excel- 
4  lent  natural  parts.  Even  the  lisp  that  he  had  became 
his  speech,  they  say,  and  made  his  talking  persuasive 
and  full  of  charm.  Aristophanes  notices  this  lisp  of  his 
in  the  verses  wherein  he  ridicules  Theorus :  — 

(Sosias)     *'  Then  Alcibiades  said  to  me  with  a  lisp,  said  he, 

*  Cwemabk  Theocwus  ?    What  a  cwaven's  head  he  has  I  * " 
(Xanthias)  **  That  lisp  of  Alcibiades  hit  the  mark  for  once  I  ** 

And  Archippus,  ridiculing  the  son  of  Alcibiades,  says : 
«  He  walks  with  utter  wantonness,  trailing  his  long 
robe  behind  him,  that  he  may  be  thought  the  very 
picture  of  his  father,  yes, 

*'  He  slants  his  neck  awry,  and  overworks  the  lisp.** 

n.  His  character,  in  later  life,  displayed  many  in- 
consistencies and  marked  changes,  as  was  natural  in 
view  of  his  vast  undertakings  and  varied  fortunes. 
He  was  naturally  a  man  of  many  strong  passions,  the 
strongest  of  which  were  the  love  of  rivalry  and  the 
love  of  preeminence.  This  is  clear  from  the  stories 
recorded  of  his  boyhood. 
«  He  was  once  hard  pressed  in  wrestling,  and  to  save 
himself  from  getting  a  fall,  set  his  teeth  in  his  oppo- 
nent's arms,  where  they  clutched  him,  and  was  like 
to  have  bitten  through  them.  His  adversary,  letting 
go  his  hold,  cried :  **  You  bite,  Alcibiades,  as  women 
do ! "     "  Not  I,"  said  Alcibiades,  "  but  as  Uons  do." 


r.i 


STORIES  OF  mS  BOYHOOD 


113 


While  still  a  small  boy,  he  was  playing  knuckle- 3 
bones  in  the  narrow  street,  and  just  as  it  was  his  turn 
to  throw,  a  heavy-laden  waggon  came  along.  In  the 
first  place,  he  bade  the  driver  halt,  since  his  cast  lay 
right  in  the  path  of  the  waggon.  The  driver  was  a 
boorish  fellow,  and  paid  no  heed  to  him,  but  drove  his 
team  along.  Whereupon,  while  the  other  boys  scat- 
tered out  of  the  way,  Alcibiades  threw  himself  flat 
on  his  face  in  front  of  the  team,  stretched  himself  out 
at  full  length,  and  bade  the  driver  go  on  if  he  pleased. 
The  fellow  pulled  up  his  beasts  sharply,  in  terror ;  the 
spectators,  too,  were  affrighted,  and  ran  with  shouts 
to  help  the  boy. 

At  school,  he  usually  paid  due  heed  to  his  teachers,  4 
but  he  refused  to  play  the  flute,  holding  it  an  ignoble 
and  illiberal  thing.     The  use  of  the  plectrum  and  the 
lyre,  he  argued,  wrought  no  havoc  with  the  bearing 
and  appearance  which  were  becoming  to  a  gentleman ; 
but  let  a  man  go  to  blowing  on  a  flute,  and  even  his 
own  kinsmen  could  scarcely  recognize  his  features. 
Moreover,  the  lyre  blended  its  tones  with  the  voice  or  6 
song  of  its  master ;  whereas  the  flute  closed  and  barri- 
caded the  mouth,  robbing  its  master  both  of  song  and 
speech.     "Flutes,  then,"  said  he,  "for  the  sons  of 
Thebes;  they  know  not  how  to  converse.     But  we 
Athenians,   as   our  fathers   say,    have   Athena  for 
foundress  and  Apollo  for  patron,  one  of  whom  cast 
the  flute  away  in  disgust,  and  the  other  flayed  the 
presumptuous  flute-player."     Thus,  half  in  jest  ande 
half  in  earnest,  Alcibiades  emancipated  himself  from 
this  discipline,  and  the  rest  of  the  boys  as  well.     For 


1I 


114 


ALCIBIADES 


HIS  LOVE  OF  SOCRATES 


115 


word  soon  made  its  way  to  them  that  Alcibiades  loathed 
the  art  of  flute-playing  and  scoffed  at  its  disciples,  and 
rightly,  too.  Wherefore  the  flute  was  dropped  en- 
tirely from  the  program  of  a  liberal  education,  and 
was  altogether  despised. 

in.  Among  the  calumnies  which  Antiphon  heaps 
upon  him,  it  is  recorded  that,  when  he  was  a  boy,  he 
ran  away  from  home  to  Democrates,  one  of  his  lovers, 
and  that  Ariphron  was  all  for  having  him  proclaimed 
by  town  crier  as  a  castaway.  But  Pericles  would  not 
suffer  it.  '^  If  he  is  dead,"  said  he,  "  we  shall  know  it 
only  a  day  the  sooner  for  the  public  proclamation; 
whereas,  if  he  is  alive,  he  will,  in  consequence  of  such 
a  proclamation,  be  as  good  as  dead  for  the  rest  of  his 
life."  Antiphon  says  also  that  with  a  blow  of  his 
stick  he  slew  one  of  his  attendants  in  the  palaestra  of 
Sibyrtius.  But  these  things  are  perhaps  unworthy  of 
belief,  coming  as  they  do  from  one  who  admits  that  he 
hated  Alcibiades,  and  abused  him  accordingly. 

IV.  It  was  not  long  before  many  men  of  high  birth 
clustered  about  him  and  paid  him  their  attentions ; 
they  were  plainly  smitten  with  the  brilliant  youth, 
and  fondly  courted  him.  But  it  was  the  love  which 
Socrates  had  for  him  that  bore  strong  testimony  to 
the  boy's  native  excellence  and  good  parts.  These 
Socrates  saw  radiantly  manifest  in  his  outward  person, 
and,  fearful  of  the  influence  upon  him  of  wealth  and 
rank  and  the  throng  of  citizens,  foreigners,  and  allies 
who  sought  to  preempt  his  affections  by  flattery  and 
favor,  he  was  fain  to  protect  him,  and  not  suffer  such  a 
fair  flowering  plant  to  cast  its  native  fruit  to  perdition. 


There  is  no  man  whom  Fortune  so  envelops  and  2 
compasses  about  with  the  so-called  good  things  of  life, 
that  he  cannot  be  reached  by  the  bold  and  caustic 
reasonings  of  philosophy,  and  pierced  to  the  heart. 
And  so  it  was  that  Alcibiades,  although  at  the  start 
he  put  on  airs,  and  was  prevented  by  the  companions 
who  sought  only  to  please  him  from  giving  ear  to 
one  who  would  instruct  and  train  him,  nevertheless, 
through  the  goodness  of  his  parts,  at  last  saw  all  that 
was  in  Socrates,  and  clave  to  him,  putting  away  his 
rich  and  famous  lovers.  And  speedily,  from  having  3 
such  an  associate,  and  giving  ear  to  the  words  of  a 
lover  who  was  in  the  chase  for  no  immanly  pleasures, 
and  begged  no  kisses  and  embraces,  but  sought  to 
expose  the  weakness  of  his  soul  and  rebuke  his  vain 
and  foolish  pride, 

**  He  crouched,  though  warrior  bird,  like  slave,  with  drooping  wings." 

And  he  came  to  think  that  the  work  of  Socrates 
was  really  a  kind  provision  of  the  gods  for  the  care 
and  salvation  of  youth.  Thus,  from  despising  him- 4 
self,  admiring  his  friend,  loving  that  friend's  kindly 
solicitude,  and  revering  his  excellence,  he  insensibly 
acquired  an  "image  of  love",  as  Plato  says,  "to 
match  love,"  and  all  were  amazed  to  see  him  eating, 
exercising,  and  tenting  with  Socrates,  while  he  was 
harsh  and  stubborn  with  the  rest  of  his  lovers. 

Some  of  these  he  actually  treated  with  the  greatest 
insolence,  as,  for  example,  Anytus,  the  son  of  An- 
themion.     This  man  was  a  lover  of  his,  who,  enter-s 
taining  some  friends,  asked  Alcibiades    also   to  the 
dinner.     Alcibiades  declined  the  invitation,  but  after 


1} 


116 


ALCIBIADES 


mS  LOVE  OF  PLEASURE 


117 


having  drunk  deep  at  home  with  some  friends^  went 
in  revel  rout  to  the  house  of  Anytus,  took  his  stand 
at  the  door  of  the  men's  chamber,  and,  observing  the 
tables  full  of  gold  and  silver  beakers,  ordered  his 
slaves  to  take  half  of  them  and  carry  them  home  for 

ehim.  He  did  not  deign  to  go  in,  but  played  this 
prank  and  was  off.  The  guests  were  naturally  indig- 
nant, and  declared  that  Alcibiades  had  treated  Anytus 
with  gross  and  overweening  insolence.  "  Not  so,"  said 
Anytus,  "  but  with  seemly  consideration ;  he  might 
have  taken  all  there  were :  he  has  left  us  half." 

V.  He  treated  the  rest  of  his  lovers  also  after  this 
fashion.  There  was  one  man,  however,  a  resident 
alien,  as  they  say,  and  not  possessed  of  much  at  that, 
who  sold  all  that  he  had,  and  brought  the  hundred 
staters  which  he  got  for  it  to  Alcibiades,  begging  him 
to  accept  them.  Alcibiades  burst  out  laughing  with 
delight  at  this,  and  invited  the  man  to  dinner.  After 
feasting  him  and  showing  him  every  kindness,  he 
gave  him  back  his  gold,  and  charged  him  on  the  mor- 
row to  compete  with  the  farmers  of  the  public  reve- 

2  nues  and  outbid  them  all.  The  man  protested,  because 
the  purchase  demanded  a  capital  of  many  talents ; 
but  Alcibiades  threatened  to  have  him  scourged  if 
he  did  not  do  it,  because  he  cherished  some  private 
grudge  against  the  ordinary  publicans.  In  the  morn- 
ing, accordingly,  the  alien  went  into  the  market 
place  and  increased  the  usual  bid  for  the  public  lands 
by  a  talent.  The  publicans  clustered  angrily  about 
him  and  bade  him  name  his  surety,  supposing  that 
he  could  find  none.     The  man  was  confounded  and 


began  to  draw  back,  when  Alcibiades,  standing  afar 
off,  cried  to  the  magistrates,  "  Put  my  name  down ; 
he  is  a  friend  of  mine  ;  I  will  be  his  surety."  When  3 
the  publicans  heard  this,  they  were  at  their  wit's  end, 
for  they  were  in  the  habit  of  paying  what  they  owed 
on  a  first  purchase  with  the  profits  of  a  second,  and 
saw  no  way  out  of  their  difficulty.  Accordingly  they 
besought  the  man  to  withdraw  his  bid,  and  offered 
him  money  so  to  do ;  but  Alcibiades  would  not  suffer 
him  to  take  less  than  a  talent.  On  their  offering  the 
man  the  talent,  he  bade  him  take  it  and  withdraw. 
To  this  lover  he  was  of  service  in  this  way. 

VI.  The  love  of  Socrates,  though  it  had  many 
powerful  rivals,  somehow  mastered  Alcibiades.  He 
was  of  good  natural  parts,  and  the  words  of  his 
teacher  took  hold  of  him  and  wrung  his  heart  and 
brought  tears  to  his  eyes.  But  sometimes  he  would 
surrender  himself  to  the  flatterers  who  tempted  him 
with  many  pleasures,  and  slip  away  from  Socrates, 
and  suffer  himself  to  be  actually  hunted  down  by 
him  like  a  runaway  slave.  And  yet  he  feared  and 
reverenced  Socrates  alone,  and  despised  the  rest  of 
his  lovers. 

It  was  Cleanthes  who  said  that  any  one  beloved  of  2 
him  must  be  "  downed  ",  as  wrestlers  say,  by  the  ears 
alone,  though  offering  to  rival  lovers  many  other 
"  holds "  which  he  himself  would  scorn  to  take,  — 
meaning  the  various  lusts  of  the  body.  And  Alcibi- 
ades was  certainly  prone  to  be  led  away  into  pleasure. 
That  "  lawless  self-indulgence  "  of  his,  of  which  Thu- 
cydides  speaks,  leads  one  to  suspect  this.     However,  3 


If, 


!i^ 


118 


ALCIBIADES 


it  was  rather  his  love  of  distinction  and  love  of  fame 
to  which  his  corrupters  appealed,  and  they  plunged 
him  all  too  soon  into  ways  of  presumptuous  schem- 
ing, persuading  him  that  he  had  only  to  enter  public 
life,  and  he  would  straightway  cast  into  total  eclipse 
the  ordinary  generals  and  public  leaders,  and  not  only 
that,  he  would  even  surpass  Pericles  in  power  and 
reputation  among  the  Hellenes, 
i  Accordingly,  just  as  iron,  which  has  been  softened 
in  the  fire,  is  hardened  again  by  cold  water,  and  has 
its  particles  compacted  together,  so  Alcibiades,  when- 
ever Socrates  found  him  filled  with  vanity  and 
wantonness,  was  reduced  to  shape  by  the  Master's 
discourse,  and  rendered  humble  and  cautious.  He 
learned  how  great  were  his  deficiencies  and  how  in- 
complete his  excellence. 

VII.  Once,  as  he  was  getting  on  past  boyhood,  he 
accosted  a  school-teacher,  and  asked  him  for  a  book  of 
Homer.  The  teacher  replied  that  he  had  nothing  of 
Homer's,  whereupon  Alcibiades  fetched  him  a  blow 
with  his  fist,  and  went  his  way.  Another  teacher 
said  he  had  a  Homer  which  he  had  corrected  himself. 
^<  What !  "  said  Alcibiades,  **  are  you  teaching  boys  to 
read  when  you  are  competent  to  edit  Homer  ?  You 
should  be  training  young  men." 
1  He  once  wished  to  see  Pericles,  and  went  to  his 
house.  But  he  was  told  that  Pericles  could  not  see 
him ;  he  was  studying  how  to  put  in  his  accounts  to 
the  Athenians.  "  Were  it  not  better  for  him  ",  said 
Alcibiades,  as  he  went  away,  "  to  study  how  not  to 
put  in  his  accounts  to  the  Athenians  ?  " 


AT  POTIDAEA  AND  DELIUM 


119 


While  still  a  stripling,  he  served  as  a  soldier  in  the  3 
campaign  of  Potidaea,  and  had  Socrates  for  his  tenir 
mate  and  comrade  in  action.  A  fierce  battle  took 
place,  wherein  both  of  them  distinguished  themselves; 
but  when  Alcibiades  fell  wounded,  it  was  Socrates 
who  stood  over  him  and  defended  him,  and  with  the 
most  conspicuous  bravery  saved  him,  armor  and  all. 
The  prize  of  valor  fell  to  Socrates,  of  course,  on  the 
justest  calculation;  but  the  generals,  owing  to  the 
high  position  of  Alcibiades,  were  manifestly  anxious 
to  give  hhn  the  glory  of  it.  Socrates,  therefore,  wish- 
ing to  increase  his  pupil's  honorable  ambitions,  led 
all  the  rest  in  bearing  witness  to  his  bravery,  and  in 
begging  that  the  crown  and  the  suit  of  armor  be 
given  to  him. 

On  another  occasion,  in  the  rout  of  the  Athenians  4 
which  followed  the  battle  of  Delium,  Alcibiades,  on 
horseback,  saw  Socrates  retreating  on  foot  with  a 
small  company,  and  would  not  pass  him  by,  but  rode 
by  his  side  and  defended  him,  though  the  enemy  were 
pressing  them  hard  and  slaying  many.  This,  how- 
ever,  was  a  later  incident. 

Vni.  He  once  gave  Hipponicus  a  blow  with  his 
fist,  —  Hipponicus,  the  son  of  Callias,  a  man  of  great 
reputation  and  influence  owing  to  his  wealth  and  f am- 
ily,  —  not  that  he  had  any  quarrel  with  him,  or  was 
a  prey  to  anger,  but  simply  for  the  joke  of  the  thing, 
as  he  had  agreed  with  some  companions.  The  wanton 
deed  was  soon  noised  about  the  city,  and  everybody 
was  indignant,  as  was  natural.  Early  the  next 
morning  Alcibiades  went  to  the  house  of  Hipponicus, 


120 


ALCIBIADES 


knocked  at  his  door,  and  on  being  shown  into  his 
presence,  laid  off  the  cloak  he  wore  and  bade  Hip- 

2  ponicus  scourge  and  chastise  him  as  he  would.  But 
Hipponicus  put  away  wrath  and  forgave  him,  and 
afterwards  gave  him  his  daughter  Hipparete  to  wife. 
Some  say,  however,  that  it  was  not  Hipponicus,  but 
Callias,  his  son,  who  gave  Hipparete  to  Alcibiades, 
with  a  dowry  of  ten  talents;  and  that  afterwards, 
when  she  became  a  mother,  Alcibiades  exacted  other 
ten  talents  besides,  on  the  plea  that  this  was  the 
agreement,  should  children  be  bom.  And  Callias  was 
so  afraid  of  the  scheming  of  Alcibiades  to  get  his 
wealth,  that  he  made  public  proffer  to  the  people  of 
his  property  and  house  in  case  it  should  befall  him  to 
die  without  lineal  heirs. 

9  Hipparete  was  a  decorous  and  affectionate  wife, 
but  being  distressed  because  her  husband  would  con- 
sort with  courtezans,  native  and  foreign,  she  left  his 
house  and  went  to  live  with  her  brother.  Alcibiades 
did  not  mind  this,  but  continued  his  wanton  ways, 
and  so  she  had  to  put  in  her  plea  for  divorce  to  the 
magistrate,  and  that  not  by  proxy,  but  in  her  own 

4  person.  On  her  appearing  publicly  to  do  this,  as  the 
law  required,  Alcibiades  came  up  and  seized  her 
and  carried  her  off  home  with  him  through  the 
market  place,  no  man  daring  to  oppose  him  or  take 
her  from  him.  She  lived  with  him,  moreover,  until 
her  death,  and  she  died  shortly  after  this,  when 
Alcibiades  was  on  a  voyage  to  Ephesus. 

5  Such  violence  as  this  was  not  thought  lawless  or 
cruel  at  all.     Indeed,  the   law  prescribes   that   the 


FIRST  PUBLIC  ACT 


121 


wife  who  would  separate  from  her  husband  shall  go 
to  court  in  person,  to  this  very  end,  it  would  seem, 
that  the  husband  may  have  a  chance  to  meet  and 
gain  possession  of  her. 

IX.  Possessing  a  dog  of  wonderful  size  and  shape, 
which  had  cost  him  seventy  minas,  he  had  its  tail 
cut  off,  and  a  beautiful  tail  it  was,  too.  His  com- 
rades chided  him  for  this,  and  declared  that  every- 
body was  furious  about  the  dog,  and  abusive  of  its 
owner.  Alcibiades  burst  out  laughing  and  said, 
"  That 's  just  what  I  want ;  I  want  Athens  to  talk 
about  this,  that  it  may  say  nothing  worse  about  me." 

X.  His  first  entrance  into  public  life,  they  say, 
was  connected  with  a  contribution  of  money  to  the 
state,  and  was  not  of  design.  He  was  passing  by 
when  the  Athenians  were  applauding  in  their  Assem- 
bly, and  asked  the  reason  for  the  applause.  On 
being  told  that  a  contribution  of  money  to  the  state 
was  going  on,  he  went  forward  to  the  bema  and 
made  a  contribution  himself.  The  crowd  clapped 
their  hands  and  shouted  for  joy,  —  so  much  so  that 
Alcibiades  forgot  all  about  the  quail  which  he  was 
carrying  in  his  cloak,  and  the  bird  flew  away  in 
a  fright.  Thereupon  the  Athenians  shouted  all  the 
more,  and  many  of  them  sprang  to  help  him  hunt 
the  bird.  The  one  who  caught  it  and  gave  it  back 
to  him  was  Antiochus,  the  sea  captain,  who  became 
in  consequence  a  great  favorite  with  Alcibiades. 

Though  great  doors  to  public  service  were  opened  to  2 
him  by  his  birth,  his  wealth,  and  his  personal  bravery 
in  battle ;  and  though  he  had  many  devoted  friends,  he 


122 


ALCIBIADES 


AT  OLYMPIA 


123 


thought  that  nothing  should  give  him  more  influence 
with  the  people  than  the  charm  of  his  discourse. 
And  that  he  was  a  powerful  speaker,  not  only  do 
the  comic  poets  testify,  but  also  the  most  powerful 
of  orators  himself,  who  says,  in  his  speech  "  Against 
Meidias  ",  that  Alcibiades  was  a  most  able  speaker  in 

8  addition  to  his  other  gifts.  And  if  we  are  to  trust 
Theophrastus,  the  most  versatile  and  learned  of  all 
the  philosophers,  Alcibiades  was  of  all  men  the  most 
capable  of  discovering  and  understanding  what  was 
required  in  a  given  case.  But  since  he  strove  to 
find  not  only  the  proper  thing  to  say,  but  also  the 
proper  words  and  phrases  in  which  to  say  it;  and 
since  in  this  last  regard  he  was  not  a  man  of  large 
resources,  he  would  often  stumble  in  the  midst  of  his 
speech,  come  to  a  stop,  and  pause  a  while,  a  particular 
phrase  eluding  him.  Then  he  would  resume,  and 
proceed  with  all  the  caution  in  the  world. 

XI.  His  breeds  of  horses  were  famous  the  world 
over,  and  so  was  the  number  of  his  racing-chariots. 
No  one  else  ever  entered  seven  of  these  at  the  Olympic 
games,  —  no  commoner  nor  king,  but  he  alone.  And 
his  coming  off  first,  second,  and  fourth  victor  (as 
Thucydides  says;  third,  according  to  Euripides), 
transcends  in  the  splendor  of  its  renown  all  that  am- 

2  bition  can  aspire  to  in  this  field.  The  ode  of  Euripides 
to  which  I  refer  runs  thus  :  — 

"  Thee  will  I  sing,  0  child  of  Cleinias  ; 
A  fair  thing  is  victoiy,  but  fairest  is  what  no  other  Hellene  has  achieved, 
To  Tun  first,  and  second,  and  third  in  the  contest  of  racing-chariots, 
And  to  come  off  unwearied,  and,  wreathed  with  the  olive  of  Zeus, 
To  furnish  theme  for  herald*s  proclamation. ** 


Xn.  Moreover,  this  splendor  of  his  at  Olympia 
was  made  even  more  conspicuous  by  the  emulous 
rivaky  of  the  cities  of  the  empire  in  his  behalf. 
The  Ephesians  equipped  him  with  a  tent  of  magnifi- 
cent adornment;  -the  Chians  furnished  him  with 
provender  for  his  horses  and  with  innumerable 
animals  for  sacrifice;  the  Lesbians  with  wine  and 
other  provisions  for  his  unstinted  entertainment  of 
the  multitude.  However,  a  grave  calumny  —  unless 
there  was  actual  malpractice  on  his  part  in  connec- 
tion with  this  rivalry  —  was  even  more  in  the  mouths 
of  men. 

It  is  said,  namely,  that  there  was  at  Athens  one  2 
Diomedes,  a  reputable  man,  a  friend  of  Alcibiades, 
and  eagerly  desirous  of  winning  a  victory  at  Olympia 
with  his  horses.  He  learned  that  there  was  a  racing- 
chariot  at  Argos  which  was  the  property  of  that  city, 
and  knowing  that  Alcibiades  had  many  friends  and 
was  very  influential  there,  got  him  to  buy  the  chariot. 
Alcibiades  bought  it  for  his  friend,  and  then  entered  3 
it  in  the  racing  lists  as  his  own,  bidding  Diomedes  go 
hang,  who  was  full  of  indignation,  and  called  on  gods 
and  men  to  witness  his  wrongs.  It  appears  also  that 
a  law-suit  arose  over  this  matter,  and  a  speech  was 
written  by  Isocrates  for  the  son  of  Alcibiades  "  Con- 
cerning the  Team  of  Horses  '\  In  this  speech,  how- 
ever, it  is  Tisias,  not  Diomedes,  who  is  the  plaintiff. 

Xni.  On  entering  public  life,  though  still  a  mere 
stripling,  he  immediately  humbled  all  the  other  pop- 
ular leaders  except  Phaeax,  the  son  of  Erasistratus,  and 
Nicias,  the  son  of  Niceratus.     These  men  made  him 


« 


124 


ALCIBIADES 


\t 


fight  hard  for  what  he  won.  Nicias  was  already  of 
mature  years,  and  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  most 
excellent  general;  but  Phaeax,  like  himself,  was 
just  beginning  his  career,  and,  though  of  illustrious 
parentage,  was  inferior  to  him  in  other  ways,  and  par- 

2  ticularly  as  a  public  speaker.  He  seemed  afEable  and 
winning  in  private  conversation  rather  than  capable 
of  conducting  public  debates.  In  short,  he  was,  as 
Eupolis  says, 

*'  A  prince  of  talkers,  bat  in  speaking  most  incapable.'* 

There  is  extant  a  certain  speech  written  by  Phaeax 
"  Against  Alcibiades  ",  wherein,  among  other  things, 
it  is  written  that  the  city's  mmierous  ceremonial 
utensils  of  gold  and  silver  were  all  used  by  Alcibiades 
at  his  regular  table  as  though  they  were  his  own. 

3  Now  there  was  a  certain  Hyperbolus,  of  the  deme 
Perithoedae,  whom  Thucydides  mentions  as  a  base 
fellow,  and  who  afforded  all  the  comic  poets,  without 
any  exception,  constant  material  for  jokes.  But  he 
was  unmoved  by  abuse,  and  insensible  to  it,  owing  to 
his  contempt  for  public  opinion.  This  feeling  some 
may  call  courage  and  valor,  but  it  is  really  mere 
shamelessness  and  folly.  No  one  liked  him,  but  the 
people  often  made  use  of  him  when  they  were  eager 
to  besmirch  and  calumniate  men  of  rank  and  station. 

4  Accordingly,  at  the  time  of  which  I  speak,  persuaded 
by  this  man,  they  were  about  to  exercise  the  vote  of 
ostracism,  by  which  they  cripple  and  banish  what- 
ever man  from  time  to  time  may  have  too  much  rep- 
utation and  influence  in  the  city  to  please  them, 
assuaging  thus  their  envy  rather  than  their  fear. 


OSTRACISM  OF  HYPERBOLUS 


125 


When  it  was  clear  that  the  ostracism  would  fall  on 
one  of  three  men,  —  Phaeax,  Alcibiades,  or  Nicias,  — 
Alcibiades  had  a  conference  with  Nicias,  united 
their  two  parties  into  one,  and  turned  the  vote  of 
ostracism  upon  Hyperbolus. 

Some  say,  however,  that  it  was  not  Nicias,  but 
Phaeax,  with  whom  Alcibiades  had  the  conference 
which  resulted  in  winning  over  that  leader's  party 
and  banishing  Hyperbolus.  The  latter  could  not 
have  had  so  much  as  an  inkling  of  his  fate.  For  no  5 
worthless  or  disreputable  fellow  had  ever  before  fal- 
len under  this  condemnation  of  ostracism.  As  Plato, 
the  comic  poet,  has  somewhere  said,  in  speaking  of 
Hyperbolus, 

"  And  yet  he  suffered  worthy  fate  for  men  of  old ; 
A  fate  unworthy  though  of  him  and  of  his  brands. 
For  such  as  he  the  ostrakon  was  ne'er  devised.'' 

However,  the  facts  which  have  been  ascertained  about 
this  case,  have  been  stated  more  at  length  elsewhere. 

XIV.  Alcibiades  was  sore  distressed  to  see  Nicias 
no  less  admired  by  his  enemies  than  honored  by  his 
fellow  citizens.  For  although  Alcibiades  was  Consul 
Resident  for  the  Lacedaemonians  at  Athens,  and  had 
ministered  to  their  men  who  had  been  taken  prisoners 
at  Pylos,  still,  they  felt  that  it  was  chiefly  due  to  2 
Nicias  that  they  had  obtained  peace  and  the  final  sur- 
render of.  those  men,  and  so  they  lavished  their  regard 
upon  him.  And  Hellenes  everywhere  said  that  it 
was  Pericles  who  had  plunged  them  into  war,  but 
Nicias  who  had  delivered  them  out  of  it,  and  most 
men  called  the  peace  the  "  Peace  of  Nicias  ". 


Ml 


I 


)  i 


■  ii 


126 


ALCIBIADES 


/ 


Alcibiades  was  therefore  distressed  beyond  meas- 
ure, and  in  his  envy  resolved  upon  a  violation  of  the 

3  solemn  treaty.  To  begin  with,  he  saw  that  the  Ar- 
gives  hated  and  feared  the  Spartans,  and  sought  to 
be  rid  of  them.  So  he  secretly  held  out  hopes  to 
them  of  an  alliance  with  Athens,  and  encouraged 
them,  by  conferences  with  the  chief  men  of  their  pop- 
ular party,  not  to  fear  nor  yield  to  the  Lacedaemo- 
nians, but  to  look  to  Athens  and  await  her  action, 
since  she  was  now  all  but  repentant,  and  desirous  of 
abandoning  the  peace  which  she  had  made  with 
Sparta. 

4  And  again,  when  the  Lacedaemonians  made  a  sep- 
arate alliance  with  the  Boeotians,  and  delivered  Pan- 
actum  up  to  the  Athenians  not  intact,  as  they  were 
bound  to  do  by  the  treaty,  but  dismantled,  he  took 
advantage  of  the  Athenians'  wrath  at  this  to  embitter 
them  yet  more.  He  raised  a  tumult  in  the  Assembly 
against  Nicias,  and  slandered  him  with  accusations 

5  all  too  plausible.  Nicias  himself,  he  said,  in  his  ca- 
pacity as  general,  had  refused  to  capture  the  enemy's 
men  who  were  cut  off  on  the  island  of  Sphacteria, 
and  when  others  had  captured  them,  he  had  released 
and  given  them  back  to  the  Lacedaemonians,  whose 
favor  he  sought ;  and  then  he  did  not  persuade  those 
same  Lacedaemonians,  tried  friend  of  theirs  as  he 
was,  not  to  make  separate  alliance  with  the  Boeotians 
or  even  the  Corinthians,  and  yet  whenever  any  Hel- 
lenes wished  to  be  friends  and  allies  of  Athens,  he 
prevented  it,  unless  it  were  the  good  pleasure  of  the 
Lacedaemonians. 


TRICKS  A  SPARTAN  EMBASSY 


127 


Nicias  was  reduced  to  great  straits  by  all  this,  but  e 
just  then,  by  rare  good  fortune  as  it  were,  an  embassy 
came  from  Sparta,  with  reasonable  proposals  to  be- 
gin on,  and  with  assurances  that  they  came  with  full 
powers  to  adopt  any  additional  terms  that  were  con- 
ciliatory and  just.  The  Council  received  them  favor- 
ably, and  the  people  were  to  hold  an  Assembly  on  the 
following  day  for  their  reception.  But  Alcibiades 
feared  a  peaceful  outcome,  and  managed  to  secure  a 
private  conference  with  the  embassy.  When  they  were  7 
convened  he  said  to  them :  "  What  is  the  matter  with 
you,  men  of  Sparta  ?  Why  are  you  blind  to  the  fact  that 
the  Council  is  always  moderate  and  courteous  towards 
those  who  have  dealings  with  it,  while  the  people's 
Assembly  is  haughty,  and  has  great  ambitions  ?  If 
you  should  say  to  them  that  you  were  come  with 
unlimited  powers,  they  would  lay  their  commands 
and  compulsions  upon  you  without  any  feeling.  Come 
now,  put  away  such  simplicity  as  this,  and  if  you 
wish  to  get  moderate  terms  from  the  Athenians,  and 
to  suffer  no  compulsion  at  their  hands  which  you  can- 
not yourselves  approve,  then  discuss  with  them  what 
would  be  a  just  settlement  of  your  case,  assuring 
them  that  you  have  not  full  powers  to  act.  I  will 
cooperate  with  you,  out  of  my  regard  for  the  Lace- 
daemonians." After  this  speech  he  gave  them  hiss 
oath,  and  so  seduced  them  wholly  away  from  the  in- 
fluence of  Nicias.  They  trusted  him  implicitly,  ad- 
mired his  cleverness  and  sagacity,  and  thought  him 
an  extraordinary  man. 

On  the  following  day  the  people  convened  in  As- 


.11 


II 


fi 


A 


128 


ALCIBIADES 


ACTIVITIES  IN  PELOPONNESUS 


129 


semblj;  and  the  emba438y  was  introduced  to  them. 
On  bemg  asked  by  Alcibiades,  in  the  most  courteous 
tone,  with  what  powers  they  had  come,  they  replied 
that  they  were  not  come  with  full  and  independ- 

9  ent  powers.  At  once,  then,  Alcibiades  assailed  them 
with  angry  shouts,  as  though  he  were  the  injured 
party,  not  they,  calling  them  faithless  and  fickle 
men,  who  were  come  on  no  sound  errand  what- 
ever. The  Council  was  indignant,  the  Assembly  was 
enraged,  and  Nicias  was  filled  with  consternation 
and  shame  at  the  men's  change  of  front.  He  was 
unaware  of  the  deceitful  trick  which  had  been 
played  upon  him. 

XV.  After  this  fiasco  on  the  part  of  the  Lace- 
daemonians, Alcibiades  was  appointed  general,  and 
straightway  brought  the  Argives,  Mantineans,  and 
Eleans  into  alliance  with  Athens.  The  manner  of 
this  achievement  of  his  no  one  approved,  but  the  effect 
of  it  was  great.  It  divided  and  agitated  almost  all 
Peloponnesus;  it  arrayed  against  the  Lacedaemoni- 
ans at  Mantinea  "so  many  warlike  shields  upon  a 
single  day";  it  set  at  farthest  remove  from  Athens 
the  struggle,  with  all  its  risks,  in  which,  when  the 
Lacedaemonians  conquered,  their  victory  brought 
them  no  great  advantage,  whereas,  had  they  been 
defeated,  the  very  existence  of  Sparta  had  been  at 
stake. 

s  After  this  battle  of  Mantinea,  the  oligarchs  of 
Argos,  "  The  Thousand ",  set  out  at  once  to  depose 
the  popular  party  and  make  the  city  subject  to 
themselves.      The  Lacedaemonians  also  came  and 


took  part  in  this  deposition  of  the  democracy.  But 
the  populace  took  up  arms  again  and  got  the  upper 
hand.  Then  Alcibiades  came  and  made  the  people's 
victory  secure.  He  also  persuaded  them  to  run  long 
walls  down  to  the  sea,  and  so  to  attach  their  city 
completely  to  the  naval  dominion  of  Athens.  He  3 
actually  brought  carpenters  and  masons  from  Athens, 
and  displayed  all  manner  of  zeal,  thus  winning  favor 
and  power  for  himself  no  less  than  for  his  city. 

In  like  manner  he  persuaded  the  people  of  Patrae 
to  attach  their  city  to  the  sea  by  long  walls.  There- 
upon some  one  said  to  the  Patrensians,  "Athena 
will  swallow  you  whole ! "  "  Perhaps  so,"  said  Al- 
cibiades, "but  you  will  go  slowly,  and  feet  first; 
whereas  Sparta  will  swallow  you  head  first,  and  at 
one  gulp." 

However,  he  counseled  the  Athenians  to  assert* 
dominion  on  land  also,  and  to  maintain  in  very  deed 
the  oath  regularly  propounded  to  their  yoimg  war- 
riors  in  the  sanctuary  of  Agraulus.  They  take  oath 
that  they  will  regard  wheat,  barley,  the  vine,  and 
the  olive  as  the  natural  boundaries  of  Attica,  and 
they  are  thus  trained  to  consider  as  their  own  all 
the  habitable  and  fruitful  earth. 

XVI.  But  all  this  statecraft  and  eloquence  and 
lofty  purpose  and  cleverness  was  interspersed  with 
great  luxuriousness  of  life,  with  wanton  drunken- 
ness and  lewdness,  with  effeminacy  in  dress,  —  he 
would  trail  long  purple  robes  through  the  market 
place,  —  and  with  prodigal  expenditures.  He  would 
have  the  decks  of  his  triremes  cut  away  that  he  might 


M 


130 


ALCIBIADES 


sleep  more  softly,  his  bedding  being  slung  on  cords 
rather  than  spread  on  the  hard  planks.  He  had  a 
golden  shield  made  for  himself,  bearing  no  ancestral 
device,  but  an  Eros  armed  with  a  thunderbolt. 
2  The  reputable  men  of  the  city  looked  on  all  these 
things  with  loathing  and  indignation,  and  feared  his 
contemptuous  and  lawless  spirit.  They  thought  such 
conduct  as  his  tyrant-like  and  monstrous.  How  the 
common  folk  felt  towards  him  has  been  well  set  forth 
by  Aristophanes  in  these  words :  — 

"  It  yearns  for  him,  and  hates  him  too,  but  wants  him  back  ;  •* 

and   agam,   veiling   a   yet  greater  severity  in  his 
metaphor :  — 

"  A  lion  is  not  to  be  reared  within  the  state  ; 
But,  once  you  Ve  reared  him  up,  consult  his  every  mood." 

s  And  indeed,  his  voluntary  contributions  of  money, 
the  public  exhibitions  which  he  gave,  his  unsurpassed 
munificence  towards  the  city,  the  glory  of  his  ances- 
try, the  power  of  his  eloquence,  the  comeliness  and 
vigor  of  his  person,  together  with  his  experience  and 
prowess  in  war,  made  the  Athenians  lenient  and  tol- 
erant towards  everything  else.  They  were  forever 
giving  the  mildest  of  names  to  his  failings,  calling 
them  the  product  of  youthful  spirit  and  ambition. 

4  He  once  imprisoned  the  painter  Agatharchus  in 
his  house  until  he  had  adorned  it  with  paintings  for 
him,  and  then  dismissed  his  captive  with  a  handsome 
present.  Taureas,  too,  who  was  giving  a  rival  exhi- 
bition to  the  people,  he  gave  a  box  on  the  ear,  so 
eager  was  he  for  the  victory.     And  he  picked  out  a 


THE  PROPHECY  OF  TIMON 


181 


woman  from  among  the  prisoners  of  Melos  to  be  his 
mistress,  and  reared  a  son  she  bore  him.  This  mays 
have  been  an  instance  of  what  they  called  his  kind- 
ness of  heart,  but  the  execution  of  all  the  grown  men 
of  Melos  was  chiefly  due  to  him,  since  he  supported 
the  decree  therefor. 

Aristophon  painted  Nemea  seated  and  holding  Alci- 
biades  in  her  arms ;  whereat  the  people  were  delighted, 
and  ran  in  crowds  to  see  the  picture.  But  the  elders 
were  indignant  at  this  too.  They  said  it  smacked  of 
tyranny  and  lawlessness.  And  it  would  seem  that 
Archestratus,  in  his  verdict  on  the  painting,  did  not 
go  wide  of  the  mark.  He  said  that  Hellas  could  not 
endure  more  than  one  Alcibiades. 

Timon  the  misanthrope  once  saw  Alcibiades,  after  a  6 
successful  day  of  it,  being  publicly  escorted  home  from 
the  Assembly.  He  did  not  pass  him  by  nor  avoid 
him,  as  his  custom  was  with  others,  but  met  him  and 
greeted  him,  saying,  "  It's  well  you're  growing  so,  my 
child ;  you'll  grow  big  enough  to  ruin  all  this  rabble." 
At  this,  some  laughed,  and  some  railed,  and  some 
gave  much  heed  to  the  saying.  So  undecided  was 
public  opinion  about  him,  by  reason  of  the  unevenness 
of  his  nature. 

XVH.  On  Sicily  the  Athenians  had  cast  longing 
eyes  even  while  Pericles  was  living;  and  after  his 
death  they  actually  tried  to  lay  hands  upon  it.  The 
lesser  expeditions  which  they  sent  thither  from  time 
to  time,  ostensibly  for  the  aid  and  comfort  of  their 
allies  on  the  island  who  were  being  wronged  by  the 
Syracusans,  they  regarded  merely  as  stepping  stones 


132 


ALCIBIADES 


2  to  the  greater  expedition  of  conquest.  But  the  man 
who  finally  fanned  this  desire  of  theirs  into  flame,  and 
persuaded  them  not  to  attempt  the  island  any  more  in 
part  and  little  by  little,  but  to  sail  thither  with  a 
great  armament  and  subdue  it  utterly,  was  Alcibiades. 
He  persuaded  the  people  to  have  great  hopes,  and  he 
himself  had  greater  aspirations  still.  Such  were  his 
hopes  that  he  regarded  Sicily  as  a  mere  beginning,  and 

3  not,  like  the  rest,  as  an  end  of  the  expedition.  So 
while  Nicias  was  trying  to  divert  the  people  from  the 
capture  of  Syracuse  as  an  undertaking  too  difficult  for 
them,  Alcibiades  was  dreaming  of  Carthage  and  Libya, 
and,  after  winning  these,  of  encompassing  Italy  and 
Peloponnesus.  He  almost  regarded  SicOy  as  the  ways 
and  means  provided  for  his  greater  war.  The  young 
men  were  at  once  carried  away  on  the  wings  of  these 
hopes  of  his,  and  would  listen  eagerly  as  their  elders 
recounted  to  them  the  wonders  of  the  projected  ex- 
pedition. Many  were  they  who  sat  in  the  palaestras 
and  lounging-places  mapping  out  in  the  sand  the  shape 
of  Sicily  and  the  position  of  Libya  and  Carthage. 

4  Socrates  the  philosopher,  however,  and  Meton  the 
astrologer,  are  said  to  have  had  no  hopes  that  any 
good  would  come  to  the  city  from  the  expedition; 
Socrates,  as  it  is  likely,  because  he  got  an  inkling  of 
the  future  from  the  divine  guide  who  was  his  familiar. 
Meton  — whether  his  fear  of  the  future  arose  from  mere 
calculation  or  from  his  use  of  some  sort  of  divination  — 
feigned  madness,  and  seizing  a  blazing  torch,  was  like 

6  to  have  set  fire  to  his  house.  Some  say,  however, 
that  Meton  made  no  pretense  of  madness,  but  actually 


THE  SICILIAN  EXPEDITION  133 

did  bum  his  house  down  in  the  night,  and  then,  in  the 
morning,  came  before  the  people  begging  and  praying 
that,  in  view  of  his  great  calamity,  his  son  might 
be  released  from  the  expedition.  He  succeeded 
in  cheating  his  fellow  citizens,  and  obtained  his 
desire. 

X  Vin.   Nicias  was  elected  general  against  his  will, 
and  he  was  anxious  to  avoid  the  command  most  of 
all  because  of  his  fellow  commander.     For  it  had 
seemed  to  the  Athenians  that  the  war  would  go  on 
better  if  they  did  not  send  out  Alcibiades  unblended, 
as  it  were,  and  sheer,  but  rather  tempered  his  rash 
daring  with  the  prudent  forethought  of  Nicias.     As 
for  the  third  general,  Lamachus,  though  advanced  in 
years,  he  was  thought,  age  notwithstanding,  to  be  no 
less  fiery  than  Alcibiades,  and  quite  as  fond  of  taking 
risks  in  battle.    Even  during  the  deliberations  of  the  2 
people  on  the  extent  and  character  of  the  armament, 
Nicias  again  tried  to  oppose  their  wishes  and  put  a 
stop  to  the  war.     But  Alcibiades  answered  all  his  ar- 
guments and  carried  the  day,  and  then  Demostratus, 
the  orator,  formally  moved  that  the  generals  have  full 
and  independent  powers  in  the  matter  of  the  armament 
and  of  the  whole  war. 

After  the  people  had  adopted  this  motion  and  all 
things  were  made  ready  for  the  departure  of  the  fleet, 
there  were  some  unpropitious  signs  and  portents,  es- 
pecially that  of  the  festival,  namely,  the  Adonia. 
This  fell  at  that  time,  and  little  images  like  dead  folks 
carried  forth  to  burial  were  everywhere  exposed  to 
view  by  the  women,  who  mimicked  burial  rites,  beat 


1, 1 


V-. 


134 


ALCIBIADES 


ACCUSED  OF  IMPIETY 


135 


their  breasts,  and  sang  dirges.  Moreover,  the  mutila- 
tion of  the  Hermae^  most  of  which,  in  a  single  night, 
had  their  faces  and  forms  disfigured,  confounded  the 
hearts  of  many,  even  among  those  who  usually  set 
small  store  by  such  things.  It  was  said,  it  is  true, 
that  Corinthians  had  done  the  deed,  Syracuse  being  a 
colony  of  theirs,  in  the  hope  that  such  portents  would 
4  stay  or  stop  the  war.  The  multitude,  however,  were 
not  moved  by  this  reasoning,  nor  by  that  of  those  who 
thought  the  affair  no  terrible  sign  at  all,  but  rather 
one  of  the  common  results  of  winebibbing,  when  dis- 
solute youth,  in  mere  sport,  are  carried  away  into 
wanton  acts.  They  looked  on  the  occurrence  with 
wrath  and  fear,  thinking  it  the  sign  of  a  bold  and  dan- 
gerous conspiracy.  They  therefore  scrutinized  nar- 
rowly every  suspicious  circumstance,  the  Council  and 
the  Assembly  convening  for  this  purpose  many  times 
within  a  few  days. 

XIX.  During  this  time  Androcles,  the  popular 
leader,  produced  sundry  aliens  and  slaves  who  accused 
Alcibiades  and  his  friends  of  mutilating  other  sacred 
images,  and  of  making  a  parody  of  the  mysteries  of 
Eleusis  in  a  drunken  revel.  They  said  that  one  Theo- 
dorus  played  the  part  of  the  Herald,  Pulytion  that  of 
the  Torch-bearer,  and  Alcibiades  that  of  the  High 
Priest,  and  that  the  rest  of  his  companions  were  there 
2  in  the  r61e  of  initiates,  and  were  dubbed  Mystae.  Such 
indeed  was  the  purportof  the  impeachment  whichThes- 
salus,  the  son  of  Cimon,  brought  in  to  the  Assembly, 
impeaching  Alcibiades  of  impiety  towards  the  Eleu- 
sinian  goddesses.     The  people  were  exasperated,  and 


felt  bitterly  towards  Alcibiades,  and  Androcles,  who 
was  his  mortal  enemy,  egged  them  on. 

At  first  Alcibiades  was  confounded.  But  perceiv-  3 
ing  that  all  the  seamen  and  soldiers  who  were  going 
to  sail  for  Sicily  were  friendly  to  him,  and  hearing 
that  the  Argive  and  Mantinean  men-at-arms,  a  thou- 
sand in  number,  declared  that  it  was  all  because  of 
Alcibiades  that  they  were  making  their  long  expedi- 
tion across  the  seas,  and  that  if  any  wrong  should  be 
done  him  they  would  at  once  abandon  it,  he  took  cour- 
age, and  insisted  on  an  immediate  opportunity  to  de- 
fend himself  before  the  people.  His  enemies  were 
now  in  their  turn  dejected.  They  feared  lest  the 
people  be  too  lenient  in  their  judgment  of  him  because 
they  needed  him  so  much. 

Accordingly,  they  devised  that  certain  orators  who* 
were  not  looked  upon  as  enemies  of  Alcibiades,  but 
who  really  hated  him  no  less  than  his  avowed  foes, 
should  rise  in  the  Assembly  and  say  that  it  was 
absurd,  when  a  general  had  been  set,  with  full  powers, 
over  such  a  vast  force,  and  when  his  armament  and 
allies  were  all  assembled,  to  destroy  his  beckoning 
opportunity  by  recourse  to  any  paltry  jury  service  or 
court-room  procedure.  "  Nay,"  they  said,  "  let  him 
sail  now,  and  Heaven  be  with  him  !  But  when  the 
war  is  over,  then  let  him  come  and  make  his  defense. 
The  laws  will  be  the  same  then  as  now."  Of  course  the  5 
malice  in  this  postponement  did  not  escape  Alcibiades. 
He  declared  in  the  Assembly  that  it  was  a  terrible 
misfortune  to  be  sent  off  at  the  head  of  such  a  vast 
force  with  his  case  still  in  suspense,  leaving  behind 


.^M#>  ^< 


136 


ALCIBIADES 


THE  INFORMERS 


137 


him  vague  accusations  and  slanders ;  he  ought  to  be 
put  to  death  if  he  could  not  refute  them ;  but  if  he 
could  refute  them  and  prove  his  innocence,  he  ought 
to  proceed  against  the  enemy  without  any  fear  of 
the  public  informers  at  home. 

XX.  He  could  not  carry  his  point,  however,  but 
was  ordered  to  set  sail.  So  he  put  to  sea  along 
with  his  fellow  generals,  having  not  much  less  than 
one  hundred  and  forty  triremes;  fifty-one  hundred 
men-at-arms ;  about  thirteen  hundred  archers,  sling- 
ers,  and  light-armed  folk ;  and  the  rest  of  his  equip- 
ament  to  correspond.  On  reaching  Italy  and  taking 
Rhegium,  he  proposed  a  plan  for  the  conduct  of  the 
war.  Nicias  opposed  it,  but  Lamachus  approved  it, 
and  so  he  sailed  to  Sicily.  He  secured  the  allegiance 
of  Catana,  but  accomplished  nothing  further,  since  he 
was  presently  summoned  home  by  the  Athenians  to 
stand  his  trial. 

At  first,  as  I  have  said,  sundry  vague  suspicions 
and  calumnies  against  Alcibiades  were  advanced  by 

3  aliens  and  slaves.  Afterwards,  during  his  absence, 
his  enemies  went  to  work  more  confidently.  They 
brought  the  wanton  treatment  of  the  Hermae  and  of 
the  Eleusinian  mysteries  under  one  and  the  same 
design ;  both  were  fruits  of  a  conspiracy  to  subvert 
the  government,  and  all  who  were  accused  of  any 
complicity  whatsoever  therein  were  cast  into  prison 
without  trial.  The  people  were  provoked  with  them- 
selves  for  not  bringing  Alcibiades  to  trial  and  judg- 
ment on   such  grave   charges   when  they  had   the 

4  chance,  and  any  kinsman  or  friend  or  comrade  of  his 


who  fell  ioul  of  their  wrath  against  him,  found  them 
exceedingly  severe. 

Thucydides  omitted  mention  of  the  informers  by 
name,  but  others  give  their  names  as  Diocleides  and 
Teucer.  For  instance,  Phrynichus  the  comic  poet 
referred  to  them  thus  :  — 

^  Look  out,  too,  dearest  Hermes,  not  to  get  a  fall. 
And  mar  your  looks,  and  so  equip  with  calumny 
Another  Diocleides  bent  on  wreaking  harm.** 

And  the  Hermes  replies :  — 

« I*m  on  the  watch  ;  there's  Teucer,  too ;  I  would  not  give 
A  prize  for  lying  to  an  alien  of  his  ilk." 

And  yet  there  was  nothing  sure  or  steadfast  in  the  6 
statements  of  the  mformers.  One  of  them,  indeed, 
was  asked  how  he  recognized  the  faces  of  the  Hermae- 
defacers,  and  replied,  "By  the  light  of  the  moon." 
This  vitiated  his  whole  story,  since  there  was  no 
moon  at  all  when  the  deed  was  done.  Sensible  men 
were  troubled  thereat,  but  even  this  did  not  soften 
the  people's  attitude  towards  the  slanderous  stories. 
As  they  had  set  out  to  do  in  the  beginning,  so  they 
continued,  haling  and  casting  into  prison  any  one  who 
was  denounced. 

XXI.  Among  those  thus  held  in  bonds  and  impris- 
onment for  trial,  was  Andocides  the  orator,  whom 
Hellanicus  the  historian  included  among  the  descend- 
ants of  Odysseus.  He  was  held  to  be  a  foe  to 
popular  government,  and  an  oligarch,  but  what  most 
made  him  suspected  of  the  mutilation  of  the  Hermae^ 
was  the  tall  Hermes  which  stood  near  his  house,  a 
dedication  of  the  Aegeid  tribe.     This  was  almost  the  a 


.  ^  •A<t.. 


.'  ».•..♦«.  .«.j»*,.  A.1*.-*;. ; 


•■/  •    «  ,'^,    .  -'  ••  ,  »■»»  -^»f;  ♦«  A  ,(«-»»  ,^  j»  »\   »VW."-*>«v  *.*rf  »*<.-^  I*  »  J*.-  '•■■ 


138 


ALCIBIADES 


SUMMONED  HOME  FOR  TRIAL 


139 


I 


only  one  among  the  very  few  statues  of  like  promi- 
nence to  remain  unharmed.  For  this  reason  it  is 
called  to  this  day  the  Hermes  of  Andocides.  Every- 
body gives  it  that  name,  in  spite  of  the  adverse  tes- 
timony of  its  inscription. 

Now  it  happened  that,  of  all  those  lying  in  prison 
with  him  under  the  same  charge,  Andocides  became 
most  intimate  and  friendly  with  a  man  named  Tim- 
aeus,  of  less  repute  than  himself,  it  is  true,  but  of 

3  great  sagacity  and  daring.  This  man  persuaded 
Andocides  to  turn  state's  evidence  against  himself 
and  a  few  others.  If  he  confessed,  —  so  the  man 
argued,  —  he  would  have  immunity  from  punishment 
by  decree  of  the  people ;  whereas  the  result  of  the  trial, 
while  uncertain  in  all  cases,  was  most  to  be  dreaded  in 
that  of  influential  men  like  himself.  It  was  better  to 
save  his  life  by  a  false  confession  of  crime,  than  to 
die  a  shameful  death  under  a  false  charge  of  that 
crime.  One  who  had  an  eye  to  the  general  welfare 
of  the  community  might  well  abandon  to  their 
fate  a  few  dubious  characters,  if  he  could  thereby 
save  a  multitude  of  good  men  from  the  wrath  of  the 
people. 

4  By  such  arguments  of  Timaeus,  Andocides  was  at 
last  persuaded  to  bear  witness  against  himself  and 
others.  He  himself  received  the  immunity  from 
punishment  which  had  been  decreed ;  but  all  those 
whom  he  named,  excepting  such  as  took  to  flight, 
were  put  to  death,  and  Andocides  added  to  their 
number  some  of  his  own  household  servants,  that  he 
might  the  better  be  believed. 


Still,  the  people  did  not  lay  aside  all  their  wrath  at  s 
this  point,  but  rather,  now  that  they  were  done  with 
the  -ETermo^-defacers,  as  if  their  passion  had  all  the 
more  opportunity  to  vent  itself,  they  dashed  like  a 
torrent  against  Alcibiades,  and  finally  dispatched  the 
Salaminian  state-galley  to  fetch  him  home.  They 
shrewdly  gave  its  officers  explicit  command  not  to 
use  violence,  nor  to  seize  his  person,  but  with  all 
moderation  of  speech  to  bid  him  accompany  them 
home  to  stand  his  trial  and  satisfy  the  people.  Fore 
they  were  afraid  that  their  army,  in  an  enemy's  land, 
would  be  full  of  tumult  and  mutiny  at  the  summons. 
And  Alcibiades  might  easily  have  effected  this  had  he 
wished.  For  the  men  were  cast  down  at  his  depart- 
ure, and  expected  that  the  war,  under  the  conduct 
of  Nicias,  would  be  drawn  out  to  a  great  length  by 
delays  and  inactivity,  now  that  the  goad  to  action,  so 
to  speak  of  Alcibiades,  had  been  taken  away.  Lama- 
chus,  it  is  true,  was  a  good  soldier  and  a  brave  man ; 
but  he  lacked  authority  and  prestige  because  he  was 
so  poor. 

XXn.  Alcibiades  had  no  sooner  sailed  away  than 
he  robbed  the  Athenians  of  Messene.  There  was  a 
party  there  who  were  on  the  point  of  surrendering 
the  city  to  the  Athenians,  but  Alcibiades  knew  them, 
and  gave  the  clearest  information  of  their  design  to 
the  friends  of  Syracuse  in  the  city,  and  so  brought 
the  thing  to  naught.  Arrived  at  Thurii,  he  left  his  tri- 
reme and  hid  himself  so  as  to  escape  all  quest.  When  2 
some  one  recognized  him  and  asked,  "  Can  you  not 
trust  your  country,  Alcibiades  ?  "    "  In  all  else,"  he 


I 


:u 


'••%••     ».     ^|b^W>»«NI«« 


140 


ALCIBIADES 


AT  SPARTA 


141 


said,  "  but  in  the  matter  of  my  life  I  would  n't  trust 
even  my  own  mother  not  to  mistake  a  black  for  a 
white  ballot  when  she  cast  her  vote."  And  when 
he  afterwards  heard  that  the  city  had  condemned 
him  to  death,  "  I  '11  show  them  ",  he  said,  "  that  I  'm 
alive." 

s  His  hnpeachment  is  on  record,  and  runs  as  follows  : 
"  Thessalus,  son  of  Cimon,  of  the  deme  Laciadae, 
impeaches  Alcibiades,  son  of  Cleinias,  of  the  deme 
Scambonidae,  for  wronging  the  goddesses  of  Eleusis, 
Demeter  and  Cora,  by  mimicking  the  mysteries  and 
showing  them  forth  to  his  companions  in  his  own 
house,  wearing  a  robe  such  as  the  High  Priest  wears 
when  he  shows  forth  the  sacred  secrets  to  the  disci- 
ples, and  calling  himself  High  Priest,  Pulytion  Torch- 
bearer,  and  Theodorus,  of  the  deme  Phegaea,  Herald, 
and  hailing  the  rest  of  his  companions  as  Mystae  and 
EpoptaCj  contrary  to  the  laws  and  institutions  of  the 
Eumolpidae,  Heralds,  and  Priests  of  Eleusis." 

4  His  case  went  by  default,  his  property  was  confis- 
cated, and  besides  that,  it  was  also  decreed  that  his 
name  should  be  publicly  cursed  by  all  priests  and 
priestesses.  Theano,  the  daughter  of  Menon,  of  the 
deme  Agraul^,  they  say,  was  the  only  one  who  re- 
fused to  obey  this  decree.  She  declared  that  she  was 
a  praying,  not  a  cursing  priestess. 

XXIII.  When  these  great  judgments  and  condem- 
nations were  passed  upon  Alcibiades,  he  was  tarrying 
in  Argos,  for  as  soon  as  he  had  made  his  escape  from 
Thurii,  he  passed  over  into  Peloponnesus.  But  fear- 
ing his  foes  there,  and  renouncing  his  country  alto- 


gether, he  sent  to  the  Spartans,  demanding  immunity 
and  confidence,  and  promising  to  render  them  aid  and 
service  greater  than  all  the  harm  he  had  previously 
done  them  as  an  enemy.  The  Spartans  granted  his  re-  2 
quest,  and  received  him  among  them.  No  sooner  was 
he  come  than  he  zealously  brought  one  thing  to  pass : 
they  had  been  delaying  and  postponing  assistance  to 
Syracuse  ;  he  roused  and  incited  them  to  send  Gylip- 
pus  thither  for  a  commander,  and  to  crush  the  force 
which  Athens  had  there.  A  second  thing  he  did  was 
to  get  them  to  stir  up  the  war  against  Athens  at 
home ;  and  the  third,  and  most  important  of  all,  to 
induce  them  to  fortify  Deceleia.  This  more  than 
anything  else  wrought  ruin  and  destruction  to  his 
native  city. 

At  Sparta,  he  was  held  in  high  repute  publicly,  3 
and  privately  was  no  less  admired.  The  multitude 
was  completely  under  his  influence,  and  was  actually 
bewitched  by  his  assumption  of  the  Spartan  mode  of 
life.  When  they  saw  him  with  his  hair  untrimmed, 
taking  cold  baths,  and  on  terms  of  intimacy  with 
their  coarse  bread  and  black  porridge,  they  could 
scarcely  trust  their  eyes,  and  doubted  whether  such  a 
man  as  he  now  was  had  ever  had  a  cook  in  his  own 
house,  had  even  so  much  as  looked  upon  a  perfumer, 
or  endured  the  touch  of  Milesian  wool.  He  had,  as  4 
they  say,  one  power  which  transcended  all  others,  and 
proved  a  veritable  implement  of  his  chase  for  men : 
that  of  assimilating  and  adapting  himself  to  the  pur- 
suits and  lives  of  others,  thereby  assuming  more  vio- 
lent changes  than  the  chameleon.    That  animal,  how- 


I 


y 


if 


142 


ALCIBIADES 


IN   IONIA 


143 


\ 

u 


ever,  as  it  is  said,  is  utterly  unable  to  assume  one 
color,  namely  white;  but  Alcibiades  could  associate 
with  good  and  bad  alike,  and  found  naught  that  he 

6  could  not  imitate  and  practice.  In  Sparta,  he  was 
all  for  bodily  training,  simplicity  of  life,  and  severity 
of  countenance ;  in  Ionia,  for  luxurious  ease  and 
pleasure ;  in  Thrace,  for  drinking  deep ;  in  Thessaly, 
for  riding  hard ;  and  when  he  was  thrown  with  Tis- 
saphernes  the  Satrap,  he  outdid  even  Persian  magnifi- 
cence in  his  pomp  and  lavishness.  It  was  not  that 
he  could  so  easily  pass  entirely  from  one  manner  of 
man  to  another,  nor  that  he  actually  underwent  in 
every  case  a  change  in  his  real  character ;  but  when 
he  saw  that  his  natural  manners  were  likely  to  be 
annoying  to  his  associates,  he  was  quick  to  assume 
any  counterfeit  exterior  which  might  in  each  case 

ebe  suitable  for  them.  At  all  events,  in  Sparta,  so 
far  as  the  outside  was  concerned,  it  was  possible  to 
say  of  him,  " '  No  child  of  Achilles  he,  but  Achilles 
himself ' ;  such  a  man  as  Lycurgus  might  have 
trained  "  ;  but  judging  by  what  he  actually  felt  and 
did,  one  might  have  cried  with  the  poet,  "  'Tis  the 
selfsame  woman  still !  " 

1  While  Agis  the  king  was  away  on  his  campaigns, 
Alcibiades  corrupted  Timaea  his  wife  so  that  she  was 
with  child  by  him  and  made  no  denial  of  it.  When 
she  had  given  birth  to  a  male  child,  it  was  called 
Leotychides,  in  public,  but  in  private  the  name  which 
the  boy's  mother  whispered  to  her  friends  and  at- 
tendants, was  Alcibiades.  Such  was  the  passion  that 
possessed  the  woman.     But  he,  in  his  mocking  way, 


said  he  had  not  done  this  thing  for  a  wanton  in- 
sult, nor  at  the  behest  of  mere  pleasure,  but  in 
order  that  descendants  of  his  might  be  kings  of  the 
Lacedaemonians. 

Such  being  the  state  of  things,  there  were  many  tos 
tell  the  tale  to  Agis,  and  he  believed  it,  more  espe- 
cially owing  to  the  lapse  of  time.  There  had  been  an 
earthquake,  and  he  had  run  in  terror  out  of  his  cham- 
ber and  the  arms  of  his  wife,  and  then  for  ten  months 
had  had  no  further  intercourse  with  her.  And  since 
Leotychides  had  been  born  at  the  end  of  this  period, 
Agis  declared  that  he  was  no  child  of  his.  For  this 
reason  Leotychides  was  afterwards  refused  the  royal 
succession. 

XXIV.  After  the  Athenian  disaster  in  Sicily,  the 
Chians,  Lesbians,  and  Cyzicenes  sent  embassies  at  the 
same  time  to  Sparta,  to  discuss  a  revolt  from  Athens. 
But  though  the  Boeotians  supported  the  appeal  of 
the  Lesbians,  and  Pharnabazus  that  of  the  Cyzicenes, 
the  Spartans,  under  the  persuasion  of  Alcibiades, 
elected  to  help  the  Chians  first  of  all.  Alcibiades 
actually  set  sail  in  person  and  brought  almost  all 
Ionia  to  revolt,  and,  in  constant  association  with  the 
Lacedaemonian  generals,  wrought  injury  to  the 
Athenians. 

But  Agis  was  hostile  to  him  because  of  the  wrong  2 
he  had  suffered  as  a  husband,  and  he  was  also  vexed 
at  the  repute  in  which  Alcibiades  stood.  Most  of  the 
successes  won  were  due  to  him,  as  report  had  it.  The 
most  influential  and  ambitious  of  the  other  Spartans 
also  were  envious  and  tired  of  him,  and  soon  grew 


I 


M 


144 


ALCIBIADES 


strong  enough  to  induce  the  magistrates  at  home  to 
send  out  orders  to  Ionia  that  he  be  put  to  death. 
«  His  timely  discovery  of  this  put  him  on  his  guard, 
and  while  in  all  their  undertakings  he  took  part  with 
the  Lacedaemonians,  he  sedulously  avoided  coming 
into  their  hands.  Then  resorting  to  Tissaphemes,  the 
King's  Satrap,  for  safety,  he  was  soon  first  and  foremost 

4  in  that  grandee's  favor.  His  versatility  and  surpassing 
cleverness  was  the  admiration  of  the  Barbarian,  who 
was  no  straightforward  man  himself,  but  malicious 
and  fond  of  evil  company.  And  indeed  no  disposition 
could  resist  and  no  nature  escape  Alcibiades,  so  full 
of  grace  was  his  daily  life  and  conversation.  Even 
those  who  feared  and  hated  him  felt  the  rare  and 

5  winning  charm  of  his  society  and  presence.  And 
thus  it  was  that  Tissaphemes,  though  otherwise  the 
most  ardent  of  the  Persians  in  his  hatred  of  the  Hel- 
lenes, so  completely  surrendered  to  the  flatteries  of 
Alcibiades  as  to  outdo  him  in  reciprocal  flatteries. 
The  most  beautiful  park  he  had,  both  for  its  refresh- 
ing waters  and  grateful  lawns,  with  resorts  and  re- 
treats decked  out  in  regal  and  extravagant  fashion, 
he  named  ^^  Alcibiades " ;  everyone  always  called  it 
by  that  name. 

XXV.  Alcibiades  now  abandoned  the  cause  of  the 
Spartans,  since  he  distrusted  them  and  feared  Agis, 
and  began  to  malign  and  slander  them  to  Tissa- 
phemes. He  advised  him  not  to  aid  them  very 
generously,  and  yet  not  to  put  down  the  Athenians 
completely,  but  rather  by  niggardly  assistance  to  the 
one  and  lukewarm  hostility  to  the  other,  to  make  both 


WITH  TISSAPHERNES  145 

easy  victims  for  the  King  when  they  had  weakened 
and  exhausted  each  other.  Tissaphemes  was  easily  2 
persuaded,  and  all  men  saw  that  he  loved  and  ad- 
mired his  new  adviser,  so  that  Alcibiades  was  looked 
up  to  by  the  Hellenes  on  both  sides,  and  the  Athe- 
nians repented  themselves  of  the  sentence  they  had 
passed  upon  him,  now  that  they  were  suffering  for  it. 
Alcibiades  himself  also  was  presently  burdened  with 
the  fear  that  if  his  native  city  were  altogether  de- 
stroyed, he  might  come  into  the  power  of  the  Lace- 
daemonians, who  hated  him. 

At  this  time  almost  all  the  forces  of  Athens  were  3 
at  Samos.  From  this  island  as  their  naval  base  of 
operations  they  were  trying  to  win  back  some  of  their 
Ionian  allies  who  had  revolted,  and  were  watching 
others  who  were  disaffected.  In  some  way  or  other 
they  still  managed  to  cope  with  their  enemies  on  the 
sea,  but  they  were  afraid  of  Tissaphemes  and  of  the 
fleet  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  Phoenician  triremes 
which  was  said  to  be  all  but  at  hand ;  if  this  once 
came  up,  no  hope  was  left  for  their  city. 

Alcibiades  was  aware  of  this,  and  sent  secret  mes-4 
sages  to  the  influential  Athenians  at  Samos,  in  which 
he  held  out  the  hope  that  he  might  bring  Tissaphemes 
over  to  be  their  friend.  He  did  not  seek,  he  said, 
the  favor  of  the  multitude,  nor  tmst  them,  but  rather 
that  of  the  aristocrats,  in  case  they  would  venture  to 
show  themselves  men,  put  a  stop  to  the  wantonness 
of  the  people,  take  the  direction  of  affairs  into  their 
own  hands,  and  save  their  cause  and  city. 

Now  the  rest  of  the  aristocrats  were  much  inclined  6 


.M 


il 


146 


ALCIBIADES 


to  Alcibiades.  But  one  of  the  generals,  Phrynichus, 
of  the  deme  Deirades,  suspected  (what  was  really  the 
case)  that  Alcibiades  had  no  more  use  for  an  oligarchy 
than  for  a  democracy,  but  merely  sought  in  one  way  or 
another  a  recall  from  exile,  and  therefore  inveighed 
against  the  people  merely  to  court  betimes  the  favor  of 
the  aristocrats,  and  ingratiate  himself  with  them.  He 
therefore  opposed  him.  When  his  opinion  had  been 
overborne  and  he  was  now  become  an  open  enemy  of 
Alcibiades,  he  sent  a  secret  message  to  Astyochus,  the 
enemy's  naval  commander,  bidding  him  beware  of  Al- 
cibiades and  arrest  him,  for  that  he  was  playing  a 
e  double  game.  Without  his  knowing  it,  he  was  a 
traitor  dealing  with  a  traitor.  For  Astyochus  was 
much  in  awe  of  Tissaphernes,  and  seeing  that  Alci- 
biades had  great  power  with  the  Satrap,  he  disclosed 
the  message  of  Phrynichus  to  them  both.  Alcibiades 
at  once  sent  men  to  Samos  to  denounce  Phrynichus. 
All  the  Athenians  there  were  incensed  and  banded 
themselves  together  against  Phrynichus,  who,  seeing  no 
other  escape  from  his  predicament,  attempted  to  cure 

7  one  evil  by  another  and  a  greater.  He  sent  again  to 
Astyochus,  chiding  him  indeed  for  his  disclosure  of 
the  former  message,  but  announcing  that  he  stood 
ready  to  deliver  into  his  hands  the  fleet  and  army  of 
the  Athenians. 

However,  this  treachery  of  Phrynichus  did  not 
harm  the  Athenians  at  all,  because  of  the  fresh 
treachery   of   Astyochus.     This   second   message   of 

8  Phrynichus  also  he  delivered  to  Alcibiades.  But 
Phrynichus  knew  all  the  while  that  he  would  do  so, 


h 


PLOTS  REVOLUTION 


147 


and  expected  a  second  denunciation  from  Alcibiades. 
So  he  got  the  start  of  him  by  telling  the  Athenians 
himself  that  the  enemy  were  going  to  attack  them, 
and  advising  them  to  have  their  ships  manned  and 
their  camp  fortified.  The  Athenians  were  busy  doing  o 
this  when  again  a  letter  came  from  Alcibiades  bidding 
them  beware  of  Phrynichus,  since  he  had  offered  to 
betray  their  fleet  to  the  enemy.  This  letter  they 
disbelieved  at  the  time,  supposing  that  Alcibiades, 
who  must  know  perfectly  the  equipment  and  purposes 
of  the  enemy,  had  used  his  knowledge  in  order  to 
calumniate  Phrynichus  falsely.  Afterwards,  how-io 
ever,  when  Hermon,  one  of  the  frontier  guard,  had 
smitten  Phrynichus  with  a  dagger  and  slain  him  in 
the  open  market  place,  the  Athenians  tried  the  case 
of  the  dead  man,  found  him  guilty  of  treachery,  and 
awarded  crowns  to  Hermon  and  his  accomplices. 

XXVI.  But  at  Samos  the  friends  of  Alcibiades 
soon  got  the  upper  hand,  and  sent  Peisander  to 
Athens  to  change  the  form  of  government.  He  was 
to  encourage  the  upper  class  to  overthrow  the  de- 
mocracy and  take  control  of  affairs,  with  the  plea 
that  on  these  terms  alone  would  Alcibiades  make 
Tissaphernes  their  friend  and  ally.  This  was  the 
pretense  and  this  the  pretext  of  those  who  then  es- 
tablished the  oligarchy  at  Athens.  But  as  soon  as  a 
the  so-called  Five  Thousand  (they  were  really  only 
four  hundred)  got  the  power  and  took  control  of 
affairs,  they  at  once  neglected  Alcibiades  entirely, 
and  waged  the  war  with  less  vigor,  partly  because  they 
distrusted  the  citizens,  who  still  looked  askance  at 


148 


ALCIBIADES 


RECALLED  FROM  EXILE 


149 


the  new  form  of  government,  and  partly  because  they 
thought  the  Lacedaemonians,  who  always  looked  with 
favor  on  an  oligarchy,  would  be  more  lenient  towards 

8  them.  The  popular  party  in  the  city  was  constrained 
by  fear  to  keep  quiet,  because  many  of  those  who 
openly  opposed  the  Four  Hundred  had  been  slain. 
But  when  the  army  in  Samos  learned  what  had  been 
done  at  home,  they  were  enraged,  and  started  to  sail 
forthwith  to  the  Piraeus,  and  sending  for  Alcibiades, 
they  appointed  him  general,  and  bade  him  lead  them 
in  putting  down  the  tyrants. 

4  An  ordinary  man,  thus  suddenly  raised  to  great 
power  by  the  favor  of  the  multitude,  would  have 
been  full  of  love  for  them,  thinking  that  he  must  at 
once  gratify  them  in  all  things  and  oppose  them  in 
nothing,  since  they  had  made  him,  instead  of  a  wan- 
dering exile,  leader  and  general  of  such  a  fleet  and  of 
so  large  an  armed  force.  But  Alcibiades,  as  became  a 
great  leader,  felt  that  he  must  oppose  them  in  their 
career  of  madness,  and  prevented  them  from  making 
such  a  fatal  mistake.    Therefore  in  this  instance,  at 

6  least,  he  was  the  manifest  salvation  of  the  city.  For 
had  they  sailed  off  home,  their  enemies  might  at 
once  have  occupied  all  Ionia,  the  Hellespont,  and 
the  islands,  without  a  battle,  while  Athenians  were 
fighting  Athenians  and  making  their  own  city  the 
seat  of  war.  Such  a  war  Alcibiades,  more  than  any 
other  one  man,  prevented,  not  only  persuading  and 
instructing  the  multitude  together,  but  also,  taking 
them  man  by  man,  supplicating  some  and  constrain- 

e  ing  others.     He  had  a  helper,  too,  in  Thrasybulus  of 


Steiris,  who  went  along  with  him  and  did  the  shout- 
ing, for  he  had,  it  is  said,  the  biggest  voice  of  all  the 
Athenians. 

A  second  honorable  proceeding  of  Alcibiades  was 
his  promising  to  bring  over  to  their  side  the  Phoeni- 
cian ships  which  the  King  had  sent  out  and  the 
Lacedaemonians  were  expecting,  —  or  at  least  to  see 
that  those  expectations  were  not  realized,  —  and  his 
sailing  off  swiftly  on  this  errand.  The  ships  were? 
actually  seen  off  Aspendus,  but  Tissaphernes  did  not 
bring  them  up,  and  thereby  played  the  Lacedaemo- 
nians false.  Alcibiades  was  credited  with  this  diver- 
sion of  the  ships  by  both  parties,  and  especially  by 
the  Lacedaemonians.  It  was  charged  that  he  in- 
structed the  Barbarian  to  suffer  the  Hellenes  to 
destroy  one  another.  For  it  was  perfectly  clear  that 
the  side  to  which  such  a  naval  force  attached  itself 
would  rob  the  other  altogether  of  the  control  of  the 
sea. 

XXVn.  After  this  the  Four  Hundred  were  over- 
thrown, the  friends  of  Alcibiades  now  zealously  assist- 
ing the  party  of  the  people.  Then  the  city  willingly 
ordered  Alcibiades  to  come  back  home.  But  he 
thought  he  must  not  return  with  empty  hands  and 
without  achievement,  through  the  pity  and  favor  of 
the  multitude,  but  rather  in  a  blaze  of  glory.  So,  to 
begin  with,  he  set  sail  with  a  small  fleet  from  Samos 
and  cruised  off  Cnidus  and  Cos.  There  he  heard  2 
that  Mindarus,  the  Spartan  admiral,  had  sailed  off  to 
the  Hellespont  with  his  entire  fleet,  followed  by  the 
Athenians,  and  so  he  hastened  to  the  assistance  of 


'H 


J I 

i? 


150 


ALCIBIADES 


their  generals.  By  chance  he  came  up,  with  his 
eighteen  triremes,  at  just  that  critical  point  when 
both  parties,  having  joined  battle  with  all  their  ships 
off  Abydos,  and  sharing  almost  equally  in  victory  and 
defeat,  had  kept  up  a  desperate  struggle  till  evening. 

3  The  appearance  of  Alcibiades  inspired  both  sides 
with  a  false  opinion  of  his  coming :  the  enemy  were 
emboldened  and  the  Athenians  were  confounded. 
But  he  quickly  hoisted  Athenian  colors  on  his  flag- 
ship and  darted  straight  upon  the  victorious  and 
pursuing  Peloponnesians.  Routing  them,  he  drove 
them  to  land,  and  following  hard  after  them,  rammed 
and  shattered  their  ships.  Their  crews  swam  ashore, 
and  here  Pharnabazus  came  to  their  aid  with  his  in- 
fantry and  fought  along  the  beach  in  defense  of  their 

4  ships.  But  finally  the  Athenians  captured  thirty  of 
them,  rescued  their  own,  and  erected  a  trophy  of 
victory. 

Taking  advantage  of  a  success  so  brilliant  as  this, 
and  ambitious  to  display  himself  at  once  before  Tis- 
saphemes,  Alcibiades  supplied  himself  with  gifts  of 
hospitality  and  friendship  and  proceeded,  at  the  head 
6  of  an  imperial  retinue,  to  visit  the  Satrap.  His  re- 
ception, however,  was  not  what  he  expected.  Tissa- 
phemes  had  for  a  long  time  been  accused  by  the 
Lacedaemonians  to  the  King,  and  being  in  fear  of  the 
King's  condemnation,  it  seemed  to  him  that  Alcibi- 
ades had  come  in  the  nick  of  time.  So  he  arrested 
him  and  shut  him  up  in  Sardis,  hoping  that  such  an 
outrage  upon  him  as  this  would  dispel  the  calumnies 
of  the  Spartans. 


VICTORY  OFF  CYZICUS 


151 


XXVIIL  After  the  lapse  of  thirty  days  Alcibiades 
ran  away  from  his  guards,  got  a  horse  from  some  one 
or  other,  and  made  his  escape  to  Clazomenae.  To 
repay  Tissaphemes,  he  alleged  that  he  had  escaped 
with  that  Satrap's  connivance,  and  so  brought  addi- 
tional calumny  upon  him.  He  himself  sailed  to  the 
camp  of  the  Athenians,  where  he  learned  that  Min- 
darus,  along  with  Pharnabazus,  was  in  Cyzicus. 
Thereupon  he  roused  the  spirits  of  the  soldiers,  de-  a 
daring  that  they  must  now  do  sea-fighting  and  land- 
fighting  and  even  siege-fighting  too  against  their 
enemies,  for  poverty  stared  them  in  the  face  unless 
they  were  victorious  in  every  way.  He  then  manned 
his  ships  and  made  his  way  to  Proconnesus,  giving 
orders  at  once  to  seize  all  small  trading  craft  and  keep 
them  under  guard,  that  the  enemy  might  get  no 
warning  of  his  approach  from  any  source  so  ever. 

Now  it  chanced  that  copious  rain  fell  all  of  a  sud-s 
den,  and  thunder-peals  and  darkness  cooperated  with 
him  in  concealing  his  design.  Not  only  did  he  elude 
the  enemy,  but  even  the  Athenians  themselves  had 
given  up  all  expectation  of  fighting,  when  he  suddenly 
ordered  them  aboard  ship  and  put  out  to  sea.  After 
a  little  the  darkness  cleared  away,  and  the  Pelopon- 
nesian  ships  were  seen  hovering  off  the  harbor  of 
Cyzicus.  Fearing  then  lest  they  catch  sight  of  the* 
full  extent  of  his  array  and  take  refuge  ashore,  he 
ordered  his  fellow  commanders  to  sail  slowly  and  so 
remain  in  the  rear,  while  he  himself,  with  only  forty 
ships,  bore  down  and  challenged  the  foe  to  battle. 
The  Peloponnesians  were  utterly  deceived,  and  scorn- 


162 


ALCIBIADES 


ing  what  they  deemed  the  small  numbers  of  their 
enemy^  put  out  to  meet  them,  and  closed  at  once 
with  them  in  a  grappling  fight.  Presently,  while 
the  battle  was  raging,  the  Athenian  reserves  bore 
down  upon  their  foe,  who  were  panic  stricken  and 
took  to  flight. 

5  Then  Alcibiades  with  twenty  of  his  best  ships 
broke  through  their  line,  put  to  shore,  and  disem- 
barking his  crews,  attacked  his  enemy  as  they  fled 
from  their  ships,  and  slew  many  of  them.  Mindarus 
and  Phamabazus,  who  came  to  their  aid,  he  over- 
whelmed; Mindarus  was  slain  fighting  sturdily,  biit 

e  Phamabazus  made  his  escape.  Many  were  the  dead 
bodies  and  the  arms  of  which  the  Athenians  became 
masters,  and  they  captured  all  their  enemy's  ships. 
Then  they  also  stormed  Cyzicus,  which  Phamabazus 
abandoned  to  its  fate  when  he  saw  that  the  Pelopon- 
nesians  were  annihilated.  Thus  the  Athenians  not 
only  had  the  Hellespont  under  their  sure  control,  but 
even  ejected  the  Lacedaemonians  from  the  rest  of 
the  sea.  A  dispatch  was  captured  announcing  the 
disaster  to  the  Ephors  in  true  Laconic  style :  "  Our 
ships  are  lost ;  Mindarus  is  gone ;  our  men  are  starv- 
ing; we  know  not  what  to  do." 

XXIX.  But  the  soldiers  of  Alcibiades  were  now  so 
elated  and  filled  with  pride  that  they  disdained  longer 
to  mingle  with  the  rest  of  the  army,  since  it  had  often 
been  vanquished,  while  they  were  unconquered.  For 
not  long  before  this,  Thrasyllus  had  suffered  a  reverse 
at  Ephesus,  and  the  Ephesians  had  erected  their  bronze 
trophy  of  victory,  to  the  everlasting  disgrace  of  the 


LAYS   SIEGE  TO  CHALCEDON 


153 


Athenians.  This  was  what  the  soldiers  of  Alcibiades  2 
cast  in  the  teeth  of  Thrasyllus'  men,  vaunting  them- 
selves and  their  general,  and  refusing  to  share  either 
training  or  quarters  in  camp  with  them.  But  when 
Phamabazus  with  much  cavalry  and  infantry  attacked 
the  forces  of  Thrasyllus,  who  had  made  a  raid  into 
the  territory  of  Abydos,  Alcibiades  sallied  out  to  their 
aid,  routed  Phamabazus,  and  pursued  him  till  night- 
fall, along  with  Thrasyllus.  Thus  the  two  factions 
were  blended,  and  retumed  to  their  camp  with  mutual 
friendliness  and  delight. 

On  the  following  day  Alcibiades  set  up  a  trophy  of  3 
victory,  and  plundered  the  territory  of  Phamabazus, 
no  one  venturing  to  defend  it.  He  even  captured 
some  priests  and  priestesses,  but  let  them  go  without 
ransom.  On  setting  out  to  attack  Chalcedon,  which 
had  revolted  from  Athens  and  received  a  Lacedae- 
monian garrison  and  governor,  he  heard  that  its  citi- 
zens had  collected  all  their  goods  and  chattels  out  of 
the  country  and  committed  them  for  safe  keeping 
to  the  Bithynians,  who  were  their  friends.  So  he 
marched  to  the  confines  of  Bithynia  with  his  army, 
and  sent  on  a  herald  with  accusations  and  demands. 
The  Bithynians,  in  terror,  gave  the  booty  up  to  him, 
and  made  a  treaty  of  friendship. 

XXX.  While  Chalcedon  was  being  walled  in  from 
sea  to  sea,  Phamabazus  came  to  raise  the  siege,  and 
at  the  same  time  Hippocrates,  the  Spartan  governor, 
led  his  forces  out  of  the  city  and  attacked  the  Athe- 
nians. But  Alcibiades  arrayed  his  army  so  as  to  face 
both  enemies  at  once,  put  Phamabazus  to  shameful 


154 


ALCIBIADES 


flight,  and  slew  Hippocrates  together  with  many  of 

2  his  vanquished  men.  Then  he  sailed  in  person  into 
the  Hellespont  and  levied  moneys  there. 

He  also  captured  Selymbria,  where  he  exposed  him- 
self beyond  all  bounds.  There  was  a  party  in  the 
city  which  offered  to  surrender  it  to  him,  and  they 
had  agreed  with  him  upon  the  signal  of  a  lighted 
torch  displayed  at  midnight.  But  they  were  forced 
to  give  this  signal  before  the  appointed  time,  through 
fear  of  one  of  the  conspirators,  who  suddenly  changed 
his  mind.  So  the  torch  was  displayed  before  his  army 
was  ready,  but  Alcibiades  took  about  thirty  men  and 
ran  to  the  walls,  bidding  the  rest  of  his  force  follow 

8  with  all  speed.  The  gate  was  thrown  open  for  him 
and  he  rushed  into  the  city,  his  thirty  men-at-arms 
reenforced  by  twenty  targeteers,  but  he  saw  at  once 
that  the  Selymbrians  were  advancing  in  battle  array 
to  attack  him.  In  resistance  he  saw  no  safety,  and 
for  flight,  undefeated  as  he  was  in  all  his  campaigns 
down  to  that  day,  he  had  too  much  spirit.  He  there- 
fore had  the  trumpet  signal  silence,  and  then  ordered 
formal  proclamation  to  be  made  that  Selymbria  must 

4  not  bear  arms  against  Athens.  This  proclamation 
made  some  of  the  Selymbrians  less  eager  for  battle, 
if,  as  they  supposed,  their  enemies  were  all  inside  the 
walls ;  and  others  were  mollified  by  hopes  of  a  peace- 
ful settlement.  While  they  were  thus  parleying  with 
one  another,  up  came  the  army  of  Alcibiades.  Judg- 
ing now,  as  was  really  the  case,  that  the  Selymbrians 
were  disposed  for  peace,  he  was  afraid  that  his  Thra- 

5cian  soldiers  might  plunder  the  city.     There  were 


1 


LAYS   SIEGE   TO  BYZANTIUM 


155 


many  of  these,  and  they  were  zealous  in  their  service, 
through  the  favor  and  good  will  they  bore  Alcibiades. 
Accordingly  he  sent  them  all  out  of  the  city,  and  then, 
at  the  plea  of  the  Selymbrians,  did  their  city  no  injury 
whatever,  but  merely  took  a  sum  of  money  from  it, 
set  a  garrison  in  it,  and  went  his  way. 

XXXI.  Meanwhile  the  Athenian  generals  who 
were  besieging  Chalcedon  made  peace  with  Phamab- 
azus  on  condition  that  they  receive  a  sum  of  money, 
that  Chalcedon  be  subject  again  to  Athens,  that  the 
territories  of  Pharnabazus  be  not  ravaged,  and  that 
the  said  Pharnabazus  furnish  safe  escort  for  an  Athe- 
nian embassy  to  the  King.  Accordingly,  when  2 
Alcibiades  came  back  from  Selymbria,  Pharnabazus 
demanded  that  he  too  take  oath  to  the  treaty ;  but 
Alcibiades  refused  to  do  so  until  Pharnabazus  had 
taken  his  oath  to  it. 

After  the  oaths  had  been  taken,  he  went  up  against 
Byzantium,  which  was  in  revolt  against  Athens,  and 
compassed  the  city  with  a  wall.  But  after  Anaxilaus, 
Lycurgus,  and  certain  men  besides  had  agreed  to  sur- 
render the  city  to  him  on  condition  that  it  be  not 
plundered,  he  spread  abroad  the  story  that  threaten- 
ing complications  in  Ionia  called  him  away.  Then  he  3 
sailed  off  in  broad  daylight  with  all  his  ships ;  but  in 
the  night  time  stealthily  returned.  He  disembarked 
with  the  men-at-arms  under  his  own  command,  and 
quietly  stationed  himself  within  reach  of  the  city's 
walls.  His  fleet,  meanwhile,  sailed  to  the  harbor, 
and  forcing  its  way  in  with  much  shouting  and  tu- 
mult and  din,  terrified  the  Byzantians  by  the  unex- 


\\ 


1  ! 

i 


■  I 


u 


r 


156 


ALCIBIADES 


pectedness  of  its  attack,  while  it  gave  the  party  of 
Athens  in  the  city  a  chance  to  admit  Alcibiades  in 
all  security,  since  everybody  else  had  hurried  ofE  to 

4  the  harbor  and  the  fleet.  However,  the  day  was  not 
won  without  a  battle.  The  Peloponnesians,  Boeo- 
tians, and  Megarians  who  were  in  garrison  at  Byzan- 
tium, routed  the  ships'  crews  and  drove  them  back 
on  board  again.  Then,  perceiving  that  the  Athenians 
were  inside  the  city,  they  formed  in  battle  array  and 
advanced  to  attack  them.  A  desperate  battle  fol- 
lowed, but  Alcibiades  was  victorious  with  the  right 
wing,  as  well  as  Theramenes  with  the  left,  and  they 
took  prisoners  no  less  than  three  hundred  of  the 
enemy  who  survived. 

5  Not  a  man  of  the  Byzantians  was  put  to  death  or 
sent  into  exile  after  the  battle,  for  it  was  on  these 
conditions  that  the  men  who  surrendered  the  city  had 
acted,  and  this  was  the  agreement  with  them.  They 
exacted  no  special  grace  for  themselves.  Therefore 
it  was  that  when  Anaxilaus  was  prosecuted  at  Sparta 
for  treachery,  his  words  showed  clearly  that  his  deeds 
had  not  been  disgraceful.  He  said  that  he  was  not  a 
Lacedaemonian,  but  a  Byzantian,   and   it  was  not 

e  Sparta  that  was  in  peril.  Considering  therefore  the 
case  of  Byzantium,  he  saw  that  the  city  was  walled 
up,  that  no  help  could  make  its  way  in,  and  that  the 
provisions  already  in  the  city  were  being  consumed 
by  Peloponnesians  and  Boeotians,  while  the  Byzan- 
tians were  starving,  together  with  their  wives  and 
children.  He  had,  therefore,  not  betrayed  the  city  to 
its  enemies,  but  set  it  free  from  war  and  its  horrors, 


HIS  EETURN  TO  ATHENS 


157 


therein  imitating  the  noblest  Lacedaemonians,  in 
whose  eyes  the  one  supremely  honorable  and  right- 
eous thing  is  their  country's  good.  The  Lacedae- 
monians, on  hearing  this,  were  moved  with  sincere 
respect,  and  acquitted  the  men. 

XXXII.  But  Alcibiades,  yearning  at  last  to  see 
his  home,  and  still  more  desirous  of  being  seen  by 
his  fellow  citizens,  now  that  he  had  conquered  their 
enemies  so  many  times,  set  sail.  His  Attic  triremes 
were  adorned  all  round  with  many  shields  and  spoils 
of  war ;  many  that  he  had  captured  in  battle  were 
towed  along  in  his  wake ;  and  still  more  numerous 
were  the  figure-heads  he  carried  of  triremes  which 
had  been  overwhelmed  and  destroyed  by  him.  There 
were  not  less  than  two  hundred  of  these  all  together. 

Duris  the  Samian,  who  insists  that  he  was  a  descend-  2 
ant  of  Alcibiades,  gives  some  additional  details.  He 
says  that  the  oarsmen  of  Alcibiades  rowed  to  the  music 
of  a  flute  blown  by  Chrysogonus  the  Pjrthian  victor ; 
that  they  kept  time  to  a  rhythmic  call  from  the  lips 
of  Callipides  the  tragic  actor ;  that  both  these  artists 
were  arrayed  in  the  long  tunics,  flowing  robes,  and 
other  adornment  of  their  profession;  and  that  the 
commander's  ship  put  into  harbors  with  a  sail  of  pur- 
ple hue,  as  though,  after  a  drinking  bout,  he  were  off 
on  a  revel.  But  neither  Theopompus,  nor  Ephorus,  3 
nor  Xenophon  mentions  these  things,  nor  is  it  likely 
that  Alcibiades  put  on  such  airs  for  the  Athenians,  to 
whom  he  was  returning  after  he  had  suffered  exile, 
and  they  many  great  calamities.  Nay,  he  was  in 
actual  fear  as  he  put  into  the  harbor,  and  once  in,  he 


t 

^ 


sv 


]>  till 


■>li 


158 


ALCIBIADES 


did  not  leave  his  trireme  until,  a49  he  stood  on  deck, 
he  caught  sight  of  his  cousin  Euryptolemus  on  shore, 
with  many  other  friends  and  kinsmen,  and  heard 
their  cries  of  welcome. 
4  When  he  landed,  however,  people  did  not  deign  so 
much  as  to  look  at  the  other  generals  whom  they 
met,  but  ran  in  throngs  to  Alcibiades  with  shouts  of 
welcome,  escorting  him  on  his  way,  and  putting 
wreaths  on  his  head  as  they  could  get  to  him,  while 
those  who  could  not  come  to  him  for  the  throng, 
gazed  at  him  from  afar,  the  elderly  men  pointing  him 
out  to  the  young. 

Much  sorrow,  too,  was  mingled  with  the  city's  joy, 
as  men  called  to  mind  their  former  misfortunes  and 
compared  them  with  their  present  good  fortune, 
counting  it  certain  that  they  had  neither  lost  Sicily, 
nor  had  any  other  great  expectation  of  theirs  miscar- 
ried if  they  had  only  left  Alcibiades  at  the  head  of 
that  enterprise  and  the  armament  therefor.  For  now 
he  had  taken  the  city  when  she  was  almost  banished 
from  the  sea,  when  on  land  she  was  hardly  mistress 
of  her  own  suburbs,  and  when  factions  raged  within 
her  walls,  and  had  raised  her  up  from  this  wretched 
and  lowly  plight,  not  only  restoring  her  dominion 
over  the  sea,  but  actually  rendering  her  victorious 
over  her  enemies  everywhere  on  land. 

XXXIII.  The  decree  for  his  recall  had  been  passed 
before  this,  on  motion  of  Critias,  the  son  of  Callaes- 
chrus,  as  Critias  himself  has  written  in  his  elegies, 
where  he  reminds  Alcibiades  of  the  favor  in  these 
words :  — 


ADDRESSES  THE  ATHENIANS 


159 


"  Mine  was  the  motion  that  brought  thee  back ;  I  made  it  in  public ; 
Words  and  writing  were  mine  ;  task  like  this  I  performed  ; 
Signet  and  seal  of  words  that  were  mine  give  warrant  as  follows.** 


i 


\ 


At  this  time,  therefore,  the  people  had  only  to  meet  2 
in  assembly,  and  Alcibiades  addressed  them.  He  la- 
mented and  bewailed  his  own  lot,  but  had  only  little 
and  moderate  blame  to  lay  upon  the  people.  The 
entire  mischief  he  ascribed  to  a  certain  evil  fortune  and 
baleful  genius  of  his  own.  Then  he  descanted  at  great 
length  upon  the  vain  hopes  which  their  enemies  were 
cherishing,  and  wrought  them  up  to  courage.  At  last 
they  crowned  him  with  crowns  of  gold,  and  elected 
him  general  with  sole  powers  by  land  and  sea.  They  3 
voted  also  that  his  property  be  restored  to  him,  and 
that  the  Eumolpidae  and  Heralds  revoke  the  curses 
wherewith  they  had  cursed  him  at  the  command  of 
the  people.  The  others  revoked  their  curses,  but  The- 
odorus  the  High  Priest  said:  "Nay,  I  invoked  no 
evil  upon  him  if  he  does  no  wrong  to  the  city." 

XXXIV.  But  while  Alcibiades  was  thus  prosper- 
ing brilliantly,  some  were  nevertheless  disturbed  at 
the  particular  season  of  his  return.  He  had  put  into 
harbor  on  the  very  day  when  the  Plynteria  of  the 
goddess  Athena  were  being  celebrated.  The  Praxier- 
gidae  celebrate  these  rites  on  the  twenty-fifth  day  of 
Thargelion,  in  strict  secrecy,  removing  the  robes  of 
the  goddess  and  covering  up  her  image.  Wherefore 
the  Athenians  regard  this  day  as  the  unluckiest  of 
all  days  for  business  of  any  sort.  The  goddess,  2 
therefore,  did  not  appear  to  welcome  Alcibiades  with 
kindly  favor  and  good  will,  but  rather  to  veil  herself 


i( 


M 


! 

\    i 


160 


ALCIBIADES 


from  him  and  repel  him.  However,  all  things  fell 
out  as  he  wished,  and  one  hundred  triremes  were 
manned  for  service,  with  which  he  was  minded  to  sail 
off  again.  But  a  great  and  laudable  ambition  took 
possession  of  him  and  detained  him  there  imtil  the 
Eleusinian  mysteries. 

3  Ever  since  Deceleia  had  been  fortified,  and  the 
enemy,  by  their  presence  there,  commanded  the  ap- 
proaches to  Eleusis,  the  festal  rite  had  been  cele- 
brated with  no  splendor  at  all,  being  conducted  by 
sea.  Sacrifices,  choral  dances,  and  many  of  the  sa- 
cred ceremonies  usually  held  on  the  road,  when  lac- 
chus  is  conducted  forth  from  Athens  to  Eleusis,  had 

4  of  necessity  been  omitted.  Accordingly,  it  seemed 
to  Alcibiades  that  it  would  be  a  fine  thing,  enhancing 
his  holiness  in  the  eyes  of  the  gods  and  his  good  re- 
pute in  the  minds  of  men,  to  restore  its  ancestral 
fashion  to  the  sacred  festival  by  escorting  the  rite 
with  his  infantry  along  past  the  enemy  by  land.  He 
would  thus  either  thwart  and  humble  Agis,  if  the 
King  kept  entirely  quiet,  or  would  fight  a  fight  that 
was  sacred  and  approved  by  the  gods,  in  behalf  of  the 
greatest  and  holiest  interests,  in  full  sight  of  his  native 
city,  and  with  all  his  fellow  citizens  eye-witnesses  of 
his  valor. 

•  When  he  had  determined  upon  this  course  and 
made  known  his  design  to  the  Eumolpidae  and  Her- 
alds, he  stationed  sentries  on  the  heights,  sent  out  an 
advance-guard  at  break  of  day,  and  then  took  the 
priests,  my^tae^  and  mystagogues,  encompassed  them 
with  his  men-at-arms,  and  led  them  over  the  road  to 


CONDUCTS  THE  MYSTERIES 


161 


Eleusis  in  decorous  and  silent  array.  So  august  and 
devout  was  the  spectacle  which,  as  general,  he  thus 
displayed,  that  he  was  hailed  by  those  who  were  not 
unfriendly  to  him  as  High  Priest,  rather,  and  Mysta- 
gogue.  No  enemy  dared  to  attack  him,  and  he  con- 
ducted the  procession  safely  back  to  the  city. 

At  this  he  was  exalted  in  spirit  himself,  and  ex-  e 
alted  his  army  with  the  feeling  that  it  was  irresistible 
and  invincible  under  his  command.  People  of  the 
humbler  and  poorer  sort  he  so  captivated  by  his 
leadership  that  they  were  filled  with  an  amazing  pas- 
sion to  have  him  for  their  tjn^ant,  and  some  proposed 
it,  and  actually  came  to  him  in  solicitation  of  it.  He 
was  to  rise  superior  to  envy,  abolish  decrees  and  laws, 
and  stop  the  mouths  of  the  babblers  who  were  so 
fatal  to  the  life  of  the  city,  that  he  might  bear  an 
absolute  sway  and  act  without  fear  of  the  public 
informer. 

XXXV.  What  thoughts  he  himself  had  about  a 
tyranny,  is  uncertain.  But  the  most  influential  citi- 
zens were  afraid  of  it,  and  therefore  anxious  to  have 
him  sail  away  as  soon  as  he  could.  They  even  voted 
him,  besides  everything  else,  the  colleagues  of  his 
own  choosing.  Setting  sail,  therefore,  with  his  one 
hundred  ships,  and  assaulting  Andros,  he  conquered 
the  islanders  in  battle,  as  well  as  the  Lacedaemonians 
who  were  there,  but  he  did  not  capture  the  city. 
This  was  the  first  of  the  fresh  charges  brought 
against  him  by  his  enemies. 

And  it  would  seem  that  if  ever  a  man  was  mined  2 
by  his  own  exalted  reputation,  that  man  was  Alcibi- 


i^ 


162 


ALCIBIADES 


ades.  His  continuous  successes  gave  him  such  repute 
for  unbounded  daring  and  sagacity,  that  when  he 
failed  in  anything,  men  suspected  his  inclination; 
they  would  not  believe  in  his  inability.  Were  he 
only  inclined  to  do  a  thing,  they  thought,  naught 
could  escape  him.  So  they  expected  the  Chians  also 
to  be  taken  and  reduced  to  obedience,  along  with  the 

3  rest  of  Ionia.  They  were  therefore  incensed  to  hear 
that  he  had  not  accomplished  every  thing  at  once  and 
speedily,  to  meet  their  wishes.  They  did  not  stop  to 
consider  his  lack  of  money.  This  compelled  him, 
since  he  was  fighting  men  who  had  an  almoner  of 
bounty  in  the  Great  King,  to  leave  his  camp  fre- 
quently and  sail  off  in  quest  of  money  for  rations  and 
wages.  The  final  and  prevailing  charge  against  him 
was  due  to  this  necessity. 

4  Lysander,  who  had  been  sent  out  as  admiral  by  the 
Lacedaemonians,  paid  his  sailors  four  obols  a  day 
instead  of  three,  out  of  the  moneys  he  received  from 
Cyrus;  while  Alcibiades,  already  hard  put  to  it  to 
pay  even  his  three  obols,  was  forced  to  sail  for  Caria 
to  levy  money.  The  man  whom  he  left  in  charge  of 
his  fleet,  Antiochus,  was  a  brave  captain,  but  other- 

5  wise  a  foolish  and  low-lived  fellow.  Although  he  had 
received  explicit  commands  from  Alcibiades  not  to 
hazard  a  general  engagement  even  though  the  enemy 
sailed  out  to  meet  him,  he  fell  so  wantonly  contemp- 
tuous of  them  as  to  man  his  own  trireme  and  one 
other  and  stand  for  Ephesus,  indulging  in  many 
shamelessly  insulting  gestures  and  cries  as  he  cruised 

6  past  the  prows  of  the  enemy's  ships.    At  first  Ly- 


DEFEATED  BY  LYSANDEE 


168 


\^ 


Sander  put  out  with  a  few  ships  only,  and  gave  him 
chase.  Then,  when  the  Athenians  came  to  the  aid 
of  Antiochus,  Lysander  put  out  with  his  whole  fleet, 
won  the  day,  slew  Antiochus  himself,  captured  many 
ships  and  men,  and  set  up  a  trophy  of  victory.  As 
soon  as  Alcibiades  heard  of  this,  he  came  back  to 
Samos,  put  out  to  sea  with  his  whole  armament,  and 
challenged  Lysander  to  battle.  But  Lysander  was 
satisfied  with  his  victory,  and  would  not  put  out  to 
meet  him. 

XXXVI.  There  were  those  who  hated  Alcibiades  in 
the  camp,  and  of  these  Thrasybulus,  the  son  of  Thraso, 
his  particular  enemy,  set  sail  for  Athens  to  denounce 
him.  He  stirred  up  the  city  against  him  by  declaring 
to  the  people  that  it  was  Alcibiades  who  had  ruined 
their  cause  and  lost  their  ships  by  his  wanton  con- 
duct in  office.  He  had  handed  over  —  so  Thrasyb- 
ulus said  —  the  duties  of  commander  to  men  who 
had  won  his  confidence  merely  by  drinking  deep  and 
reeling  off  sailors'  yams,  in  order  that  he  himself  a 
might  be  free  to  cruise  about  collecting  moneys  and 
committing  excesses  of  drunkenness  and  revelry  with 
courtezans  of  Abydos  and  Ionia,  and  this  while  the 
enemy's  fleet  lay  close  to  him.  His  enemies  also 
found  ground  for  accusation  against  him  in  the  for- 
tress which  he  had  constructed  in  Thrace,  near 
Bisanthe.  It  was  to  serve,  they  said,  as  a  refuge  for 
him  in  case  he  either  could  not  or  would  not  live  at 
home. 

The  Athenians  were  persuaded,  and  chose  others 
generals  in  his  place,  thus  displaying  their  passionate 


164 


ALCIBIADES 


ill  wUl  towards  him.  On  learning  this,  Alcibiades 
was  afraid,  and  departed  the  camp  altogether,  and 
assembling  mercenary  troops  made  war  on  his  own 
account  against  the  Thracians  who  acknowledge  no 
king.  He  got  together  much  money  from  his  cap- 
tives, and  at  the  same  time  afforded  security  from 
barbarian  inroads  to  the  Hellenes  on  the  neighboring 

frontier. 

«  Tydeus,  Menander,  and  Adeimantus,  the  generals, 
who  had  all  the  ships  which  the  Athenians  could 
finally  muster  in  station  at  Aegospotami,  were  wont 
to  sail  out  every  morning  against  Lysander,  who  lay 
with  his  fleet  at  Lampsacus,  and  challenge  him  to 
battle.  Then  they  would  sail  back  again,  to  spend 
the  rest  of  the  day  in  disorder  and  unconcern,  since, 

6  forsooth,  they  despised  their  enemy.  Alcibiades,  who 
was  near  at  hand,  could  not  see  such  conduct  with 
calmness  or  indifference,  but  rode  up  on  horseback 
and  read  the  generals  a  lesson.  He  said  their  an- 
chorage was  a  bad  one ;  the  place  had  no  harbor  and 
no  city,  but  they  had  to  get  their  supplies  from 
Sestos,  a  long  way  off;  and  they  permitted  their 
crews,  whenever  they  were  on  land,  to  wander  and 
scatter  about  at  their  own  sweet  wills,  while  there  lay 
at  anchor  over  against  them  an  armament  which  was 
trained  to  do  everything  silently  at  a  word  of  absolute 
command. 

XXXVn.  In  spite  of  what  Alcibiades  said,  and  in 
spite  of  his  advice  to  change  their  station  to  Sestos, 
the  generals  paid  no  heed.  Tydeus  actually  insulted 
him  by  bidding  him  begone :    he  was  not  general 


WARNS  THE  ATHENIAN  GENERALS  165 

now,  but  others.  So  Alcibiades  departed,  suspecting 
that  some  treachery  was  on  foot  among  them.  He 
told  his  acquaintances  who  were  escorting  him  out  of 
the  camp  that,  had  he  not  been  so  grievously  insulted 
by  the  generals,  within  a  few  days  he  would  have 
forced  the  Lacedaemonians  to  engage  them  whether 
they  wished  to  do  so  or  not,  or  else  lose  their  ships. 
Some  thought  that  what  he  said  was  arrant  boasting ;  2 
but  others  that  it  was  likely.  He  had  merely  to 
bring  up  his  troops  of  mounted  Thracian  archers  to 
assault  by  land  and  confound  the  enemy's  camp. 

However,  that  he  saw  only  too  well  the  errors  of 
the  Athenians,  the  event  soon  testified.  Lysander 
suddenly  and  unexpectedly  fell  upon  them,  and  only 
eight  of  their  triremes  escaped  with  Conon ;  the  rest, 
something  less  than  two  hundred,  were  captured  and 
taken  away.  Three  thousand  of  their  crews  were  3 
taken  alive,  and  executed  by  Lysander.  In  a  short 
time  he  also  captured  Athens,  burned  her  ships,  and 
tore  down  her  long  walls. 

Alcibiades  now  feared  the  Lacedaemonians,  who 
were  supreme  on  land  and  sea,  and  betook  himself  into 
Bithynia,  carrying  much  treasure  with  him,  and  secur- 
ing much  as  he  went,  but  leaving  even  more  behind 
him  in  the  fortress  where  he  had  been  living.  In* 
Bithynia  he  lost  much  of  his  substance,  being  plun- 
dered by  the  Thracians  there,  and  so  he  determined 
to  go  up  to  the  court  of  Artaxerxes.  He  thought  to 
show  himself  not  inferior  to  Themistocles  if  the 
King  made  trial  of  his  services,  and  superior  in  his 
pretext  for  offering  them.     For  it  was  not  to  be 


166 


ALCIBIADES 


against  his  fellow  countrymen,  as  in  the  case  of  that 
great  man,  but  in  behalf  of  his  country  that  he 
would  assist  the  King  and  beg  him  to  furnish  forces 
against  a  common  enemy.  Thinking  that  Pharnab- 
azus  could  best  give  him  facilities  for  making  this 
journey  up  to  the  King,  he  went  to  him  in  Phrygia, 
and  continued  there  with  him,  paying  him  court  and 
receiving  marks  of  honor  from  him. 

XXXVIII.    The  Athenians  were  greatly  depressed 
at  the  loss  of  their  supremacy.     But  when  Lysander 
robbed  them  of  their  freedom  too,  and  handed  the 
city  over  to  thirty  men   of   his   own   mind,   then, 
their  cause  being  lost,  their  eyes  were  opened  to  the 
course  they  should  have  taken  when  salvation  was 
yet  in  their  power.     They  sorrowfully  rehearsed  all 
their  mistakes  and  follies,  the  greatest  of  which  they 
considered   to  be  their   second    outburst   of  wrath 
2  against  Alcibiades.     He  had  been  cast  aside  for  no 
fault  of  his  own ;  but  they  got  angry  because  a  sub- 
ordinate of  his  lost  a  few  ships  disgracefully,  and 
then  they  themselves,  more  disgracefully  still,  robbed 
the  city  of  its  ablest  and  most  experienced  general. 

And  yet,  in  spite  of  their  present  plight,  a  vague 
hope  still  prevailed  that  the  cause  of  Athens  was  not 
lost  so  long  as  Alcibiades  was  alive.  He  had  not,  in 
times  past,  been  satisfied  to  live  his  exile's  life  in 
idleness  and  quiet ;  nor  now,  if  his  means  allowed, 
would  he  tolerate  the  insolence  of  the  Lacedaemo- 
nians and  the  madness  of  the  Thirty. 
3  It  was  not  strange  that  the  multitude  indulged  in 
such  dreams,  when  even  the  Thirty  were  moved  to 


THE  HOPE  OF  DEMOCRACY 


167 


anxious  thought  and  inquiry,  and  made  the  greatest 
account  of  what  Alcibiades  was  planning  and  doing. 
Finally,  Critias  tried  to  make  it  clear  to  Lysander 
that  as  long  as  Athens  was  a  democracy  the  Lace- 
daemonians could  not  have  safe  rule  over  Hellas ;  and  * 
that  Athens,  even  though  she  were  very  peacefully  and 
well  disposed  towards  oligarchy,  would  not  be  suf- 
fered, while  Alcibiades  was  alive,  to  remain  undis- 
turbed  in  her  present  condition.  However,  Lysander 
was  not  persuaded  by  these  arguments  until  an  oflGi- 
cial  message  came  from  the  authorities  at  home 
bidding  him  put  Alcibiades  out  of  the  way ;  either 
because  they  too  were  alarmed  at  the  vigor  and  enter- 
prise of  the  man,  or  because  they  were  trying  to 
gratify  Agis. 

XXXIX.  Accordingly,  Lysander  sent  to  Phamab- 
azus  and  bade  him  do  this  thing,  and  Phamabazus 
commissioned  Magaeus,  his  brother,  and  Sousamithras, 
his  uncle,  to  perform  the  deed.  At  that  time  Alci- 
biades was  living  in  a  certain  village  of  Phrygia, 
where  he  had  Timandra  the  courtezan  with  him,  and 
in  his  sleep  he  had  the  following  vision.  He  thought  2 
he  had  the  courtezan's  garments  upon  him,  and  that 
she  was  holding  his  head  in  her  arms  while  she 
adorned  his  face  like  a  woman's  with  paints  and  pig- 
ments. Others  say  that  in  his  sleep  he  saw  Magaeus 
cutting  off  his  head  and  burning  his  body.  All  agree 
in  saying  that  he  had  the  vision  not  long  before  his 
death. 

The  party  sent  to  kill  him  did  not  dare  enter  his 
house,  but  surrounded  it  and  set  it  on  fire.     When  3 


168 


ALCIBIADES 


Alcibiades  was  aware  of  this,  he  gathered  together 
most  of  the  garments  and  bedding  in  the  house  and 
cast  them  on  the  fire.  Then,  wrapping  his  cloak 
about  his  left  arm,  and  drawing  his  sword  with  his 
right,  he  dashed  out,  unscathed  by  the  fire,  before  the 
garments  were  in  flames,  and  scattered  the  Barba- 
rians, who  ran  at  the  mere  sight  of  him.  Not  a  man 
stood  ground  against  him,  or  came  to  close  quarters 
with  him,  but  all  held  aloof  and  shot  him  with  jav- 
4  elins  and  arrows.  Thus  he  fell,  and  when  the  Bar- 
barians were  gone,  Timandra  took  up  his  dead  body, 
covered  and  wrapped  it  in  her  own  undergarments, 
and  gave  it  such  brilliant  and  honorable  burial  as  she 
could  provide. 

This  Timandra,  they  say,  was  the  mother  of  that 
Lais  who  was  called  the  Corinthian,  although  she 
was  a  prisoner  of  war  from  Hyccara,  a  small  city  of 
6  Sicily.  And  some,  while  agreeing  in  all  other  details 
of  the  death  of  Alcibiades  with  what  I  have  written, 
say  that  it  was  not  Phamabazus  who  was  the  cause 
of  it,  nor  Lysander,  nor  the  Lacedaemonians,  but 
Alcibiades  himself.  He  had  corrupted  a  gbl  belong- 
ing to  a  certain  well  known  family,  and  had  her  with 
him ;  and  it  was  the  brothers  of  this  girl  who,  taking 
his  wanton  insolence  much  to  heart,  set  fire  by  night 
to  the  house  where  he  was  living,  and  shot  him  down, 
as  has  been  described,  when  he  dashed  out  through 
the  fire. 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIA8 


I 


II 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIA8 

L  1.  Nioias  a  parallel  to  Crassus:  as  in  the  Cimon- 
LucuUus  pair,  it  is  probable  that  Plutarch  selected  his  Eoman 
first,  and  then  his  Greek  to  match.  When  Plutarch  resided  in 
Kome,  during  the  reign  of  Domitian  (81-96  a.  d.),  he  found 
men's  minds  still  occupied  with  the  careers  of  the  protago- 
nists in  the  drama  of  the  revolution  which  had  ushered  in  the 
empire  of  the  world.  No  less  than  thirteen  of  his  great  Ro- 
mans were  "party  chiefs  in  the  constitutional  struggles 
which  ended  on  the  fields  of  Pharsalia  and  Philippi "  (George 
Wyndham,  Introduction  to  North's  Plutarch,  ** Tudor** 
Translations,  L  pp.  x.  f.).  In  the  Nicias  and  Crassus,  as  in 
many  other  of  his  Parallel  Lives,  Plutarch's  object  is  to  re- 
mind the  too  complacent  Romans  that,  though  the  world 
was  now  in  their  strong  hands,  subject  Greece  could  show  on 
her  roll  of  honor  men  with  whom  the  greatest  Romans 
might  be  proud  to  be  compared. 

In  his  Cimon  (chap,  iii.),  as  in  his  Ferides  (chap,  ii  4), 
Plutarch  makes  brief  preliminary  comparisons  of  Cimon  with 
LucuUus,  and  of  Pericles  with  Fabius  Maximus,  thereby 
forestalling  to  some  extent  the  more  elaborate  and  formal 
**  Comparison "  at  the  close  of  each  of  those  pairs.  This 
preliminary  comparison  is  wanting  in  the  Nicias,  In  the 
formal  "  Comparison "  of  Nicias  with  Crassus  which  closes 
this  pair  of  Lives,  as  in  those  of  Cimon  with  Lucullus  and 
of  Pericles  with  Fabius,  contrasts  rather  than  similarities 
between  Greek  and  Roman  are  the  rule.  Nicias  and  Crassus 
were  alike  only  in  the  magnitude  of  their  wealth  and  of 
the  catastrophic  disasters  in  which  their  lives  went  out. 
And  even  in  wealth  and  disaster  they  were  different.  Nicias 
won  his  wealth  more  honorably  and  spent  it  with  greater 
public  spirit ;  but  in  disaster  Crassus  was  the  braver  man. 
In  public  life  Nicias  was  honest,  just,  and  considerate; 


172 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


Crassus  was  fickle,  mean,  and  wanton.  In  splendid  courage 
Crassus  far  outshone  Nicias,  who  was  timorous  and  cringing 
in  spirit,  but  still,  "  his  desire  of  peace,  and  of  finishing  the 
war,  was  a  divine  and  truly  Grecian  ambition,  nor  in  this 
respect  would  Crassus  deserve  to  be  compared  to  him,  though 
he  had  enlarged  the  Eoman  empire  to  the  Caspian  Sea  or  the 
Indian  Ocean  "  (Dryden-Clough  translation).  Nicias  weakly 
brought  his  rival,  Cleon,  into  imdeserved  power;  Crassus 
boldly  vied  with  such  men  as  Caesar  and  Pompey.  Nicias 
sought  to  avoid  command  and  responsibility ;  Crassus  had  a 
passion  for  them.  Athens  sent  out  Nicias  to  his  death 
against  his  will;  Crassus  led  out  the  Romans  to  theirs 
against  their  wilL  Still,  "  over  caution  better  deserves  for- 
giveness than  self-willed  and  lawless  transgression." 

The  Parthian  disaster :  in  the  year  53  B.  c,  Crassus,  as 
proconsul  of  Syria,  attempted  to  rival  the  conquests  of 
Lucullus,  Pompey,  and  Caesar,  in  an  invasion  of  Parthia. 
He  lost  his  own  life,  that  of  his  son  Publius,  and  more  than 
three  fourths  of  an  army  of  forty  thousand  Eoman  legion- 
aries, in  a  disaster  which  shook  the  foimdations  of  Eoman 
power  in  the  East. 

I.  2.  Thuoydides,  Philistua,  Timaeus:  see  the  Introduc- 
tion, pp.  4  fif. ;  10 ;  33  i 

Conflicts,  sea  flghts,  harangues :  the  set  speech  is  here 
included  in  the  natural  and  necessary  work  of  a  historian. 
Of  course  the  speeches  in  Timaeus,  since  he  wrote  of  events 
that  were  a  century  old,  can  have  had  no  authentic  elements, 
except  so  far  as  he  used  material  furnished  him  by  the  con- 
temporary witnesses,  Thucydides  and  Philistus.  But  the 
set  speech  as  pure  literary  ornament,  regardless  of  authentic 
elements,  had  become  fixed  in  the  technique  of  the  ancient 
historian. 

Pindar's  comparison:  Plutarch  uses  it  also  in  his  Qtuym. 
aduL  etc.,  24  =  Morals,  p.  65  B :  **  But  the  false,  bastard,  and 
counterfeit  friend  cringes  with  fear  before  his  betters,  vying 
with  them  not  even  so  much  as  '  by  Lydian  car  a  footman 
slowly  plodding  *,  nay  rather,  as  Simonides  puts  it, '  to  com- 


r^ 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


178 


pare  with  refined  gold  having  not  even  pure  lead.* "  It  is 
one  of  the  Fragmenta  Incerta  of  Pindar  (Bergk,  Foetae 
Lyrid  Graeci,  L*  p.  450). 

Diphilus :  a  prominent  poet  of  the  New  Comedy  (336- 
250  B.  c),  contemporary  with  Menander.  Some  of  his  plays, 
like  those  of  Menander,  were  adapted  for  the  Eoman  stage 
by  Plautus  and  Terence.  Thus  the  Casina  of  Plautus  was 
an  adaptation  of  the  KkrjpovfjLevoi  (Sortitores)  of  Diphilus* 
As  many  as  one  hundred  comedies  are  attributed  to  him,  of 
which  only  titles  and  fragments  have  come  down  to  us 
(Kock,  Cam.  Att.  Frag.,  iL  p.  576). 

Obese:  probably  used  of  a  parasite  by  Diphilus;  as  ap- 
plied to  Timaeus  by  Plutarch,  it  would  mean  "  thick-witted". 

Xenarchus:  no  historian  of  this  name  is  known,  and  yet 
the  language  implies  a  historian.    Coraes  suspects  the  text 

I.  3.  Name  derived  from  victory :  vCicn,  victory  ;  ^iicla^;. 
Victorious. 

Declined  to  head  their  expedition :  he  was  elected  gen- 
eral against  his  will,  and  tried  to  dissuade  the  Athenians 
from  the  enterprise  (chap.  xiL  3 ;  Alcibiades,  xviiL  1). 

Mutilation  of  the  Hermae:  see  chap.  ziiL  2 ;  Alctbiades, 
xviiL  3. 

Hermooratee :  the  principal  Syracusan  commander  (chap. 
xvL  4  et  passim),  a  Sicilian  patriot  whom  Thucydides  de- 
lights to  honor. 

Delivered  Cerberus  into  his  hands :  to  fetch  the  dog 
Cerberus  from  Hades  was  the  twelfth  and  last  labor  imposed 
upon  Heracles  by  the  tyrant  Eurystheus.  As  the  story  is 
told  in  ApoUodorus  (ii  5, 12),  Heracles  asked  Pluto  for  Cer- 
berus, and  was  told  that  he  could  have  him  if  he  would 
take  him  without  using  weapons.  Heracles  clasped  the 
three-headed  monster  in  his  arms,  and  took  him  to  the 
upper  world,  whence,  after  having  shown  him  to  Eurystheus, 
he  brought  him  back  to  Hades.  Timaeus  evidently  had  a 
version  of  the  story  in  which  Cora,  or  Persephone,  the 
daughter  of  Demeter  and  wife  of  Pluto,  assisted  the  hero  in 
securing  the  monster. 


174 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


Succor  the  Egestaeans :  Segesta,  as  its  own  inhabitants 
called  it,  or  Egesta,  as  the  Greeks  called  it,  was  a  little 
fortress-city  in  the  northwestern  part  of  Sicily  which  had  a 
feud  of  long  standing  with  Selinus  in  the  south-western  part. 
The  Selinuntians  got  aid  from  Syracuse,  and  in  416  B.C. 
their  united  forces  were  pressing  Egesta  hard.  An  appeal 
from  Egesta  to  Athens  for  aid  came  when  the  passion  of  the 
Athenians  for  the  conquest  of  Sicily  was  rising,  and  fur- 
nished a  plausible  pretext  for  the  fatal  expedition  against 
Syracuse  (Thuc,  vL  chaps.  6  and  8).  See  the  fuller  note  on 
xii  1. 

Descendants  of  the  Trojans:  "  After  the  capture  of  Troy, 
some  Trojans  who  had  escaped  from  the  Achaeans  came 
in  ships  to  Sicily ;  they  settled  near  the  Sicanians,  and  both 
took  the  name  of  Elymi  The  Elymi  had  two  cities,  Eryx 
and  Egesta  "  (Thuc,  vi.  2,  3). 

The  wrong  done  him  by  Laomedon :  the  legend  runs  that 
Heracles  saved  Hesione,  the  daughter  of  Laomedon,  from  a 
sea-monster  to  which  she  had  been  devoted,  and  was  then 
cheated  of  his  promised  reward,  namely,  the  immortal  horses 
which  Zeus  had  given  Tros  as  recompense  for  Oanymedes 
(Apollodorus,  ii  5,  9).  Tlepolemus,  a  son  of  Heracles,  thus 
boasts  to  Sarpedon,  Lycian  son  of  Zeus  (Iliad,  v.  639-643, 
Chapman's  translation) :  — 

**  My  father  Hercules 
Was  Jove's  true  issue  :  he  was  bold  ;  his  deeds  did  well  express 
They  sprung  out  of  a  lion's  heart.    He  whilom  came  to  Troy, 
(For  horse  that  Jupiter  gave  Tros,  for  Ganymed,  his  boy) 
With  six  ships  only,  and  few  men,  and  tore  the  city  down, 
Left  all  her  broad  ways  desolate,  and  made  the  horse  his  own." 

I.  4.  Abuse  Plato  and  Aristotle:  the  censoriousness  of 
Timaeus  won  him  the  surname  of  "  Epitimaeus  ",  or  "  Fault- 
finder ".     See  the  Introduction,  pp.  33 1 

L  5.  Most  writers:  i.  e.  historians,  like  Thucydides,  Phi- 
listus,  and  Timaeus. 

Others  ....  oasually :  not  historians,  writing  of  the  Si- 
cilian expedition,  nor  even  biographers,  but  philosophers  per- 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


175 


haps,  writers  of  Socratic  dialogues,  who  used  historical 
material  merely  as  literary  setting  and  embellishment  So 
Plato  in  his  LcLches,  and  Pasiphon  in  his  Nidas.  See  the 
Introduction,  pp.  11  f. 

Found  on  ancient  votive  offerings :  as,  for  instance,  the 
inscription  at  Delos,  mentioned  in  iiL  6. 

In  public  decrees :  in  xii.  4,  Plutarch  probably  controlled 
a  copy  of  the  decree  mentioned,  in  the  collection  of  Craterus. 
See  the  Introduction,  pp.  35  f. 

II.  1.  In  the  first  place:  as  a  rule,  Plutarch  begins  by  de- 
scribing his  hero's  birth  and  training,  and  then  passes  to  his 
character  and  achievements.  These  topics  determine  the 
usual  foiu:  divisions  of  a  Life  by  Plutarch.  But  the  Nicias 
has  only  the  last  two  divisions, — those  treating  of  the  char- 
acter and  achievements  of  the  man.  It  has  been  inferred 
from  this  that  Plutarch  found  no  special  biography  of  Nicias 
available  for  use.  However  fair  such  an  inference  may  be, 
it  is  certainly  true  that  in  his  opening  chapter,  as  we  have 
seen,  Plutarch  gives  an  unusually  precise  program  of  his  pro- 
cedure in  the  composition  of  this  Life,  in  words  which  imply 
independence.  Whether  Plutarch  was  independent  or  not, 
it  may  safely  be  inferred  that  Nicias  was  not  a  man  of  noble, 
or  even  of  high  birth,  otherwise  we  should  certainly  have 
been  told  of  it.  He  was  a  contracting  capitalist,  like  his 
father,  whose  wealth  he  had  inherited.  He  was  probably 
descended  from  some  metic,  or  alien-resident  of  Athens,  who 
was  admitted  to  the  citizenship  after,  and  in  consequence  of 
the  reforms  of  Cleisthenes  (508-500  b.  c).  Socially,  there- 
fore, he  was  in  the  same  class  as  Cleon  and  Hyperbolus, 
whereas  Pericles  and  Alcibiades  belonged  to  the  oldest  and 
most  famous  patrician  family.    See  the  note  on  ii  3. 

What  Aristotle  wrote :  "  The  best  Athenian  statesmen^ 
after  the  ancients,  would  seem  to  have  been  Nicias,  Thucyd- 
ides, and  Theramenes.  As  regards  Nicias  and  Thucydides, 
there  is  almost  universal  agreement  that  they  were  not  only 
good  and  true  men,  but  also  statesmen  who  served  the  en- 
tire state  with  all  the  aifection  of  a  father  towards  a  child ; 


mr- 


176 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


but  as  r^ards  Theramenee,  from  the  fact  that  political  af- 
fairs in  his  time  were  full  of  convulsion,  there  is  debate 
about  the  final  estimate  of  him.  To  those,  however,  who 
pronounce  no  cursory  opinion,  he  appears  not  to  have  de- 
stroyed all  the  forms  of  government  under  which  he  lived, 
as  is  slanderously  said  of  him,  but  rather  to  have  furthered 
them  as  long  as  they  transgressed  no  law,  with  the  feeling 
that  he  could  serve  his  country  under  all  forms  of  govern- 
ment,—  which  is  the  sign  of  a  good  citizen ;  as  soon  as  they 
ran  counter  to  the  laws,  he  no  longer  gave  them  allegiance, 
but  incurred  their  hate"  {Constitution  of  Athens,  xxviiL  5). 

It  is  clear  that  Plutarch  reproduces  very  imperfectly  the 
testimony  of  Aristotle,  —  so  imperfectly  that  his  words  can 
hardly  be  called  a  "  careless  paraphrase  ".  In  this,  as  in  other 
citations  which  he  makes  of  the  Constitution  of  Athene  {e,  g, 
Themistocles,  x.  3 ;  Cimon,  x.  2),  Plutarch  is  using  Aristotle 
at  second  hand,  as  he  finds  him  cited  in  some  such  author  as 
Philochorus  (Introduction,  pp.  34  f.).  See  J.  H.  Wright, 
American  Journal  of  Philology ,  xii  pp.  313-317. 

The  three  best  citizens :  Aristotle  said  they  were  thought 
to  be  the  three  best  statesmen  after  the  ancients. 

In  lesser  degree:  this  is  not  Aristotle's  estimate  of  Thera- 
menes,  but  that  of  his  detractors.  Philochorus,  or  the  au- 
thor in  whom  Plutarch  finds  the  citation  from  Aristotle, 
probably  dissented  from  Aristotle's  encomium  on  Theramenes, 
and  Plutarch  reproduces  the  dissent  in  place  of  Aristotle's 
justification  of  his  encomium. 

An  alien  from  Ceos :  Theramenes  was  a  legitimate  son  of 
Hagnon,  and  a  rightful  Athenian  citizen,  but  a  taimt  of  Eu- 
polis  (Kock,  Com.  Att.  Frag,,  L  p.  322,  Frag,  237)  and  a  jest 
of  Aristophanes  {Frogs,  970)  led  to  a  false  assumption  that 
he  was  only  an  adoptive  son  of  Hagnon,  and  a  native  of  Ceos. 
See  Rogers*  Note  on  the  Frogs,  970.  Ceos  was  one  of  the 
twelve  Cyclades  islands,  and  lay  about  thirteen  miles  south- 
east of  the  promontory  of  Sunium.  Its  capital  city  was  the 
birth-place  of  the  lyric  poets  Simonides  and  Bacchylides,  and 
of  Prodicus  the  sophist 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


177 


Ck>thumus :  a  buskin,  or  high  boot,  worn  by  tragic  actors. 
Since  it  could  be  worn  indi£ferently  on  either  foot,  its  name 
was  used  to  designate  a  political  turn-coat. 

Theramenes  was  prominent  as  a  naval  commander  (411- 
408  B.C.) ;  in  the  revolution  of  the  Four  Hundred  (411)  ;  at 
the  battle  of  the  Arginusae  (406) ;  and  among  the  "  Thirty 
Tyrants  "  (404).  From  this  office  he  was  deposed  by  his  col- 
league, Critias,  and  outrageously  put  to  death.  His  charac- 
ter, as  was  natural  in  the  case  of  one  who  sought  to  avoid 
political  extremes,  has  been  much  defamed.  See  American 
Historical  Review,  ix.  pp.  649-669. 

IL  2.  Thucydides:  distinguished  as  the  son  of  Melesias 
from  Thucydides  the  historian,  who  was  the  son  of  Olorus. 
He  succeeded  Cimon  as  leader  of  the  aristocratic  party.  His 
powerful  opposition  to  Pericles  ceased  with  his  ostracism  in 
442  B.  c.     See  the  Pericles,  chaps,  xi.  and  xiv. 

Associated  with  ^itn  as  general :  this  is  not  unlikely,  but 
rests  on  the  sole  authority  of  Plutarch.  Thucydides  first 
mentions  him  (iii.  51)  as  general  commanding  a  successful 
expedition  to  capture  and  fortify  Minoa,  an  island  lying  be- 
fore Megara.     This  was  in  the  summer  of  427. 

The  party  of  the  rich  and  notable :  Nicias  was  therefore 
the  political  successor,  not  of  Pericles,  but  of  Thucydides  son 
of  Melesias,  as  leader  of  the  aristocratic  or  oligarchical  party. 
**  In  looking  to  the  conditions  imder  which  this  party  con- 
tinued to  subsist,"  says  Grote  {Hist,  of  Greece,  v.  p.  199,  ed. 
in  ten  vols.),  **  we  shall  see  that  during  the  interval  between 
Thucydides  (son  of  Melesias)  and  Nikias,  the  democratical 
forms  had  acquired  such  confirmed  ascendancy,  that  it  would 
not  have  suited  the  purpose  of  any  politician  to  betray  evi- 
dence of  positive  hostility  to  them,  prior  to  the  Sicilian  ex- 
pedition and  the  great  embarrassment  in  the  foreign  relations 
of  Athens  which  arose  out  of  that  disaster.  After  that 
change,  the  Athenian  oligarchs  became  emboldened  and  ag- 
gressive. .  .  .  But  Nikias  represents  the  oligarchical  party  in 
its  previous  state  of  quiescence  and  torpidity,  accommodating 
itself  to  a  sovereign  democracy,  and  existing  in  the  form  of 


T*:; 


178 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


common  sentiment  rather  than  of  common  purposes.  And  it 
is  a  remarkable  illustration  of  the  real  temper  of  the  Athe- 
nian people,  that  a  man  of  this  character,  known  as  an  oligarch 
but  not  feared  as  such,  and  doing  his  duty  sincerely  to  the 
democracy,  should  have  remained  until  his  death  the  most 
esteemed  and  influential  man  in  the  city." 

II.  3.  Cleon:  the  successor  of  Pericles  in  the  leadership  of 
the  radical  democracy.  He  is  introduced  to  us  by  Thucydides 
in  connection  with  the  case  of  the  revolted  and  conquered 
people  of  Mitylene.  "  In  the  former  assembly,  Cleon  the  son 
of  Cleaenetus  had  carried  the  decree  condemning  the  Mitylen- 
aeans  to  death.  He  was  the  most  violent  of  the  citizens, 
and  at  that  time  exercised  by  far  the  greatest  influence  over 
the  people  "  (iii.  36).  Of  course  he  must  have  acquired  this 
influence  gradually,  and  there  is  good  evidence  (Periclea, 
xxxiii  6)  that  he  was  active  during  the  last  years  of  Pericles. 
After  the  death  of  Pericles,  in  429,  Eucrates  the  "  tow-dealer  " 
(Aristophanes,  Knights^  129)  assumed  for  a  brief  space  the 
r6le  of  popular  leader,  and  then  Lysicles  the  "  sheep-dealer" 
(75.,  132).  The  latter  perished  in  Caria  early  in  the  winter 
of  428,  on  an  expedition  to  collect  money  from  the  allies 
(Thuc,  iil  19).  Cleon  also  was  a  merchant,  —  a  **  leather- 
dealer"  (Aristophanes,  Knights,  136).  "Under  the  great  in- 
crease of  trade  and  population  in  Athens  and  Peiraeus  during 
the  last  forty  years,  a  new  class  of  politicians  seems  to  have 
grown  up ;  men  engaged  in  various  descriptions  of  trade  and 
manufactiu-e,  who  began  to  rival  more  or  less  in  importance 
the  ancient  families  of  Attic  proprietors.  This  change  was 
substantially  analogous  to  that  which  took  place  in  the  cities 
of  Mediaeval  Europe,  when  the  merchants  and  traders  of  the 
various  guilds  gradually  came  to  compete  with,  and  ulti- 
mately supplanted,  the  patrician  families  in  whom  the  su- 
premacy had  formerly  resided"  (Grote,  Hist  of  Greece,  v. 
pp.  160  f.).  Cleon  was  so  mercilessly  caricatured  by  Aris- 
tophanes, and  so  scornfully  judged  even  by  Thucydides, 
that  it  is  hard  for  us  not  to  do  him  some  injustice. 

By  coddling  them,  etc- :  an  iambic  trimeter  from  an  un- 


"v  rvf>M 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


179 


k4 


known  comic  poet  (Kock,  Com,  Att.  Frag.,  iii  p.  400).  It 
is  a  parody  of  a  verse  from  the  Peleus  of  Sophocles  (Nauck» 
Tr<ig.  Graec.  Frag^,  p.  239),  "  To  nurse  his  age,  and  educate 
him  up  again",  which  is  more  closely  parodied  in  Aris- 
tophanes, Knights,  1099,  where  Demus  intrusts  himself  to 
the  victorious  rival  of  Cleon  **  to  coddle  me,  and  educate  me 
up  again  ".  Plutarch  uses  this  same  anonymous  verse  in  his 
Praecepta  ger,  reip,,  13  =  Morals,  807  A,  where  also  he  is 
characterizing  Cleon,  who  joined  himself  **  with  the  meanest 
and  most  distempered  of  the  people  against  the  best ". 

II.  4  Timid  as  he  was  by  nature,  eta :  this  excellent 
characterization  of  Nicias  accords  with  that  of  Thucydides, 
who,  in  the  case  of  Nicias,  departs  from  his  usual  custom  of 
letting  deeds  portray  character.  '' Pleistoanax  the  son  of 
Pausanias,  king  of  the  Lacedaemonians,  and  Nicias  the  son 
of  Niceratus  the  Athenian,  who  had  been  the  most  fortunate 
general  of  his  day,  became  more  eager  than  ever  to  make  an 
end  of  the  war.  Nicias  desired,  whilst  he  was  still  successful 
and  held  in  repute,  to  preserve  his  good  fortune ;  he  would 
have  liked  to  rest  from  toil,  and  to  give  his  people  rest; 
and  he  hoped  to  leave  behind  him  to  other  ages  the  name  of 
a  man  who  in  all  his  life  had  never  brought  disaster  on 
the  city.  He  thought  that  the  way  to  gain  his  wish  was  to 
trust  as  little  as  possible  to  fortune,  and  to  keep  out  of 
danger;  and  that  danger  would  be  best  avoided  by  peace" 
(v.  16, 1). 

III.  1.  Native  exoeUenoe  and  powerful  eloquence:  Per- 
icles, ''deriving  authority  from  his  capacity  and  acknowl- 
edged worth,  being  also  a  man  of  transparent  integrity,  was 
able  to  control  the  multitude  in  a  free  spirit ;  he  led  them 
rather  than  was  led  by  them ;  for,  not  seeking  power  by  dis- 
honest arts,  he  had  no  need  to  say  pleasant  things,  but,  on 
the  strength  of  his  own  high  character,  could  venture  to  op- 
pose and  even  to  anger  them.  When  he  saw  them  unseason- 
ably elated  and  arrogant,  his  words  humbled  and  awed  them ; 
and,  when  they  were  depressed  by  groundless  fears,  he  sought 
to  reanimate  their  confidence.     Thus  Athens,  though  still  in 


r 


r 


180 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIA8 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


181 


name  a  democracy,  was  in  fact  ruled  by  her  greatest  citizen  " 
(Thuc,  ii  65,  8  f.). 

III.  2.  Choral  and  gymnastio  exhibitions:  the  Athe- 
nian state  imposed  certain  public  services,  or  "  liturgies  ",  on 
its  wealthy  citizens,  at  stated  times  and  in  regular  rotation. 
The  principal  ordinary,  or  regular  liturgies  were  three  in 
number.  The  Choregia  involved  the  equipment  of  a  trained 
chorus  for  competition  at  a  public  festival ;  the  Gymnasi- 
archia,  the  maintenance  and  training  of  the  competitors  in  a 
public  gymnastic  contest,  as  well  as  the  arrangement  and 
decoration  of  the  place  of  contest;  the  ArchitJieoria,  the 
superintendence  and  conduct  of  a  sacred  embassy  to  one  of 
the  national  games,  or  to  such  holy  places  as  Delos  or 
Delphi  An  extraordinary  liturgy  was  the  Trierarchia,  or 
fitting  out  of  a  trireme  in  time  of  war.  Citizens  ambitious 
of  securing  popular  favor  were  lavish  in  their  expenditures 
when  regularly  appointed  to  these  services,  and  sometimes 
volunteered  for  them.  See  the  ThemistocleSy  v.  4  and  the 
Aristides,  L  2,  with  the  notes. 

IIL  3.  The  Palladium:  a  small  figure  of  Pallas  Athena 
in  armor,  and  of  an  archaic  type,  after  the  manner  of  repre- 
sentations in  the  most  ancient  art  of  the  sacred  image  taken 
frOm  Troy  by  Odysseus  and  Diomedes  (Virgil,  Aen.  ii.  163  fif. ; 
Pausanias,  L  28,  9).  A  similar  figure  was  dedicated  at  Del- 
phi (chap.  xiiL  3),  possibly  by  Cimon. 

Temple  surmounted  by  tripods:  each  of  the  ten  Attic 
tribes  was  represented  by  a  chorus  in  the  dithyrambic  contests 
of  the  greater  Dionysiac  festival  (held  in  the  great  theatre), 
and  the  prize  awarded  by  the  state  to  the  victorious  choregus 
was  a  bronze  tripod,  which  he  was  permitted  to  dedicate  in 
some  public  place.  A  street  leading  from  the  Prytaneium 
to  the  theatre  of  Dionysus,  and  skirting  the  eastern  slope  of 
the  Acropolis,  was  lined  with  such  dedications,  and  called 
the  "  Street  of  Tripods  "  (see  Pausanias,  i.  20, 1,  and  Frazer*s 
notes).  The  usual  support  of  the  tripod  in  the  dedications 
of  the  fifth  centiuy  b.  g.  was  a  low-stepped  base,  and  it  is 
probable  that  the  row  of  choregic  tripods  dedicated  in  the 


precinct  of  Dionysus  by  Nicias  and  his  brothers  (Plato, 
Gorgias,  472  A)  were  mounted  in  this  way.  After  the 
completion  of  the  stone  theatre  by  Lyciu*gus  (about  340  B.  c), 
there  was  a  marked  increase  in  the  display  of  wealth  by  the 
victorious  choregi  Small  temples  or  shrines  took  the  place 
of  more  simple  bases  for  the  tripods,  like,  for  instance,  the 
elegant  "  choree  monument  of  Lysicrates  ",  still  in  situ.  In 
320-319  B.  c,  a  Nicias,  son  of  Nicodemus,  of  the  deme  Xypete 
(as  the  dedicatory  inscription  on  the  front  architrave  of  the 
temple  shows),  built  a  small  Doric  temple  in  the  precinct  of 
Dionysus  to  support  his  own  choregic  tripod,  and  also,  as  we 
must  infer  from  the  explicit  language  of  Plutarch,  the  tripods 
of  the  elder  Nicias.  These  were  perhaps  displaced  by  the 
temple,  which  Plutarch  carelessly  attributes  to  the  elder 
Nicias,  and  given  a  new  and  better  place  upon  it,  along 
with  that  of  the  younger  Nicias.  The  tripods,  like  most 
valuable  bronze  dedications,  have  disappeared.  But  the 
temple  of  the  younger  Nicias  was  in  later  times  taken 
down  and  built  into  the  so-called  Beul^  Gate  of  the  Acrop- 
olis, which  was  imcovered  in  1852.  In  1885  Professor 
Doerpfeld  began  the  analysis  of  the  remains  of  the  temple, 
and  its  theoretical  restoration.  The  subject  has  been  much 
discussed  (see  Frazer's  Pausanias,  ii  p.  250 ;  Harrison  and 
Verrall,  Mythology  and  Monuments  of  Athens,  pp.  344-346 ; 
D'Ooge,  Acropolis  of  Athens,  pp.  262  fif.),  but  approaches  final 
solution  in  W.  B.  Dinsmoofs  paper  on  The  Choragic  Monu- 
ment of  Nicias,  American  Journal  of  Archaeology,  xiv.  (1910), 
pp.  459-484  (cf.  XV.  pp.  168  f.). 

In  the  costume  of  Dionysus:  not  an  actor  in  a  play,  but 
the  leading,  or  solo  singer  in  a  Dionysiac  dithyramb. 

III.  4  f.  Outlays  at  Delos:  when  performing  the  Archi- 
theoria  (§  5),  or  conducting  an  official  embassy  from  the  city 
to  the  sacred  isle.  Delos  was  the  central  and  smallest  island 
in  the  Cyclades  group.  As  the  reputed  birth-place  of  Apollo, 
it  had  been  from  early  times  the  seat  of  a  national  festival 
of  the  lonians  of  Asia  and  the  islands.  The  character  of  the 
festival  is  seen  from  Thucydides,  iii  104,  and  especially  from 


182 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


the  verses  of  the  Homeric  Hymn  to  Apollo  there  cited.  "  Mu- 
sical and  gymnastic  contests  were  held  there,  and  the  cities 
celebrated  choral  dances."  The  Athenians  had  at  one  time 
participated  in  this  festival,  but  it  had  been  for  a  long  while 
n^lected,  "owing  to  the  misfortunes  of  Ionia".  In  the 
winter  of  426  b.  c,  "  the  Athenians,  by  command  of  an 
oracle,  purified  the  island.  They  took  away  the  dead  out 
of  all  the  sepulchres  which  were  in  Delos,  and  passed  a 
decree  that  henceforward  no  one  should  die  or  give  birth 
to  a  child  there,  but  that  the  inhabitants  when  they  were 
near  the  time  of  either  should  be  carried  across  to  Rheneia. 
Now  Rheneia  is  near  to  Delos,  so  near  indeed  that  Poly- 
crates  the  tyrant  of  Samos,  who  for  a  time  had  a  power- 
ful navy,  attached  this  island,  which  he  conquered  with 
the  rest  of  the  islands  and  dedicated  to  the  Delian  Apollo, 
by  a  chain  to  Delos.  After  the  purification,  the  Athenians 
for  the  first  time  celebrated  the  Delian  games,  which  were 
held  every  four  years."  Possibly  it  was  this  newly  insti- 
tuted quadrennial  festival  which  Nicias  conducted  with  such 
lavish  expenditures  (Busolt,  Griech,  Oesch,,  iii.  p.  1080). 
Boeckh,  however  (Staatshaushaltung  *,  ii  p.  85),  thought  that 
Plutarch's  language  implied  at  least  two  celebrations  before 
that  which  Nicias  conducted,  and  assigned  the  year  418  to  the 
latter.  So  Hicks  and  Hill,  Greek  Historical  Inscriptions  \  p.  202. 
From  this  great  quadrennial  festival,  at  which  a  trained 
chorus  from  Athens  vied  with  choruses  from  other  cities 
(Xen.,  Mem.  iii.  3, 12),  the  annual  theoria,  or  sending  of  the 
sacred  ship  of  Theseus  to  Delos,  must  be  distinguished. 
This  was  an  embassy  conveying  thank  offerings  to  Apollo 
for  the  victory  of  Theseus  over  the  Minotaur,  and  the  de- 
livery of  Athens  from  her  novennial  tribute  of  seven  youths 
and  seven  maidens.  According  to  Plutarch  (Theseus,  xxiiL), 
the  vessel  sent  was  the  very  one  in  which  Theseus  had 
sailed,  though  so  repaired  and  restored  as  to  have  lost  its 
material  identity.  It  was  the  absence  of  this  vessel  on  its 
annual  mission  which  gave  Socrates  a  month's  reprieve  from 
death  (Plato,  Fhaedo,  58  A). 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


183 


The  strait  between  Rheneia  and  Delos :  about  half  a 
mile  wide,  and  interrupted  by  two  bare  rocks.  The  bridge  of 
Nicias  would  seem  to  have  been  imitated  in  later  celebra- 
tions (Hicks  and  Hill,  op.  ciU,  p.  205). 

III.  6.  Bronze  palm-tree:  Odysseus  compares  Nausicaa 
to  the  sacred  palm  which  he  saw  on  Delos,  near  the  altar  of 
Apollo  (Od.,  vi.  162  f.).  This  palm  became  one  of  the  tradi- 
tional features  of  the  sacred  isle,  and  was  still  shown  in 
Cicero's  time.  "  It  was  believed  to  be  the  oldest  palm-tree 
in  the  world  and  to  have  sprung  up  when  Latona  landed  in 
Delos ;  in  the  act  of  giving  birth  to  Apollo  and  Artemis 
she  laid  one  hand  on  the  palm-tree  and  the  other  hand  on 
an  olive.  From  this  same  sacred  palm  Theseus  broke  the 
branch  wherewith  he  crowned  the  victors  in  the  games 
which  he  celebrated  at  Delos  "  (Frazer,  on  Pausanias,  viii, 
48,  2). 

Ten  thousand  drachmas :  about  $2000,  or  X400,  with 
four  or  five  times  the  present  purchasing  power  of  money. 
The  drachma  was  a  silver  coin  of  about  the  worth  of  the 
French  franc.  In  weight  and  value  it  was  the  hundredth 
part  of  a  mina,  and  contained  six  obols.  An  obol,  therefore, 
corresponded  in  value  nearly  to  the  English  penny.  Sixty 
minas  made  a  talent,  which  was  equivalent  to  about  $1200, 
or  £225. 

Graven  on  the  stone :  fulfilling  his  promise  in  i.  5  of  col- 
lecting material "  found  on  ancient  votive  offerings  ",  Plutarch 
gives  us  the  gist  of  this  Delian  inscription.  He  may  well 
have  found  it  in  Philochorus  (Introd.  p.  34). 

Colosscd  statue  of  the  god :  excavations  have  brought  to 
light  the  base  of  this  statue  of  Apollo  in  situ,  and  adjacent 
to  it  sundry  fragments  of  the  statue  itself.  See  Baedecker's 
Greece  (1894),  p.  144,  and  Bulletin  de  Correspondance  Helle- 
nique,  xviL  (1893),  pp.  129-144. 

rV.  1.  Ostentatious  publicity :  reading  waprjyvpiKtiv, 
with  Madvig. 

As  Thuoydides  says:  in  describing  the  effect  upon  the 
Athenian  army  at  Syracuse  of  an  eclipse  of  the  moon  (viL 


184 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


50,  4).  Much  of  the  sternness  of  the  historian's  judgment 
is  lost  in  Plutarch's  citation.  Nicias  was  "  far  too  much 
addicted  to  divination  and  similar  religious  practices  ".  See 
chap.  xxiiL  and  notes. 

lY.  2.  One  of  the  dialogues  of  Paaiphon :  a  dialogue 
entitled  "  Nicias  ",  though  sometimes  attributed  to  Phaedo, 
the  disciple  of  Socrates,  was  probably  the  work  of  Pasiphon 
the  Eretrian,  a  notorious  imitator  of  the  Socratic  disciples, 
to  whom  he  attributed  his  own  compositions.  See  the  In- 
troduction, pp.  lit 

Silver  mines  in  Laurium :  the  peninsula  forming  the 
south-eastern  extremity  of  Attica  furnished  the  Athenian 
state  with  most  of  the  silver  which  it  coined  so  abundantly 
during  the  fifth  century  B.  c.  It  was  the  revenue  from  the 
mines  here  which  enabled  Athens  to  become  the  foremost 
maritime  power  in  Greece.  "  The  Athenians,  having  a  large 
sum  of  money  in  their  treasury,  the  produce  of  the  mines  at 
Laureium,  were  about  to  share  it  among  the  full-grown 
citizens,  who  would  have  received  ten  drachmas  apiece,  when 
Themistocles  persuaded  them  to  forbear  the  distribution,  and 
build  with  the  money  two  hundred  ships,  to  help  them  in 
their  war  against  the  Eginetans.  It  was  the  breaking  out 
of  the  Eginetan  war  which  was  at  this  time  the  saving  of 
Greece,  for  hereby  were  the  Athenians  forced  to  become  a 
maritime  power.  The  new  ships  were  not  used  for  the  pur- 
pose for  which  they  had  been  built,  but  became  a  help  to 
Greece  in  her  hour  of  need"  (Herod.,  vii  144).  See  the  note 
on  the  Themistocles,  iv.  2.  The  mines  were  the  property  of 
the  state,  and  were  leased  to  private  individuals,  who  paid 
the  price  of  the  lease  and  one  twenty-fourth  of  the  prod- 
uce into  the  public  treasury.  During  the  Peloponnesian 
war  they  continued  to  yield  the  state  a  revenue,  but  gradually 
declined  in  productiveness.  By  the  time  of  Augustus  they 
were  abandoned.  In  recent  times,  however,  the  mines  have 
been  actively  worked  again,  and  modem  processes  have  made 
the  refuse  of  the  ancient  mining  operations  valuable.  Lead, 
and  not  silver,  is  the  chief  product  of  the  modem  mining. 


NOTES   ON  THE  NICIAS 


185 


A  multitude  of  slaves :  "  It  is  an  old  story,  trite  enough  to 
those  of  us  who  have  cared  to  attend  to  it,  how  once  on  a 
time  Nicias,  the  son  of  Niceratus,  owned  a  thousand  men  in 
the  silver  mines,  whom  he  let  out  to  Sosias,  a  Thracian,  on 
the  following  terms.  Sosias  was  to  pay  him  a  net  obol  a  day, 
without  charge  or  deduction,  for  every  slave  of  the  thousand, 
and  be  responsible  for  keeping  up  the  number  perpetually  at 
that  figure  "  (Xen.,  On  Revenues,  iv.  14,  Dakyns'  translation). 
**What  say  you,  Antisthenes  ?  —  have  friends  their  values 
like  domestic  slaves?  One  of  these  latter  may  be  worth 
perhaps  two  minae,  another  only  half  a  mina,  a  third  five, 
and  a  foiu-th  as  much  as  ten ;  while  they  do  say  that  Nicias, 
the  son  of  Niceratus,  paid  a  whole  talent  for  a  superintendent 
of  his  silver  mines  "  (Xen.,  Mem,  iL  5,  2).     See  on  iii.  6. 

IV.  4.  Telecleides :  one  of  the  older  poets  of  Old  Comedy 
(Introd.,  pp.  1  f .),  but  partly  contemporary  with  Aristophanes. 
His  ridicule  of  Pericles  is  cited  by  Plutarch  in  the  Pericles, 
iiL  4  and  xvi  2.  The  title  of  the  play  from  which  the  follow- 
ing extract  is  taken  is  not  known  (Kock,  Com.  Att.  Frag.,  i, 
p.  219). 

Public  informer :  Athenian  law  permitted  any  person  to 
bring  information  against  public  ofifenders,  and  prosecute 
them  in  the  courts.  The  privilege  came  to  be  much  abused, 
and  innocent  men  would  often  pay  liberally  to  escape  the 
annoyance  of  a  public  prosecution.  Eich  men  in  particular 
found  it  expedient  to  be  on  good  terms  with  the  professional 
informer.  See  the  art.  Sycophantes  in  Smith's  Diet  of  An- 
tiquities (third  ed.). 

Charicles :  prominent  in  415  B.  c.  in  the  official  efforts  to 
discover  the  authors  of  the  Hermae-oxxtr^igQ ;  strategus  in 
414-413 ;  and  afterwards,  in  404,  one  of  the  "  Thirty 
Tyrants". 

IV.  5.  Eupolis :  one  of  the  younger  poets  of  Old  Comedy, 
like  Aristophanes.  As  Aristophanes  had  lampooned  the 
demagogue  Cleon  in  his  Knights,  of  the  year  424,  so  Eupolis 
caricatured  the  demagogue  Hyperbolus  in  his  Maricas,  of 
the  year  421.    Aristophanes  accuses  Eupolis  of  plagiarism 


186 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


(Clavds,  653-556).  For  the  verses  here  cited,  see  Kock, 
Com,  Att.  Frag.,  i  p.  308. 

lY.  6.  The  Cleon  of  Aristophanes :  in  the  Knights  (v. 
358),  in  which  Nicias  and  Demosthenes  are  represented  as 
slaves  in  the  household  of  the  Athenian  Demus,  and  terror- 
ized by  a  newly  purchased  Paphlagonian  slave  (Cleon)  until 
rescued  by  a  rampant  sausage-seller,  it  is  not  the  Paphlago- 
nian (Cleon),  but  the  sausage-seller,  Agoracritus,  who  utters 
the  verse  here  cited.  He  will  out-bawl  the  orators  bawl 
they  ever  so  loudly,  and  confound  the  timid  Nicias. 

Phryniohus :  also  one  of  the  younger  poets  of  Old  Comedy. 
He  won  the  third  place  in  414,  when  Aristophanes  was 
second  with  his  Birds,  and  the  second  place  in  405,  when 
Aristophanes  was  first  with  his  Frogs.  The  name  of  the 
play  from  which  the  verses  here  cited  come,  is  not  certain 
(Kock,  Com,  Att  Frag.,  L  p.  385X 

V.  1.  Would  neither  dine,  etc.:  from  very  different 
motives  Pericles  also  is  said  to  have  held  himself  aloof  from 
social  life  (Pericles,  vii.  4). 

General :  there  were  ten  of  these,  one  from  each  of  the 
ten  tribes,  elected  annually  by  show  of  hands  in  the  Ecclesia, 
or  General  Assembly.  **  Originally  nothing  more  than  the 
commanders  of  the  tribal  regiments,  ....  the  strategi  came 
to  be  the  most  important  officials  of  the  state.  In  addition 
to  their  command  of  the  army,  they  came  to  conduct  the 
foreign  policy  of  Athens,  while  as  guardians  of  the  state  in 
time  of  peace  as  well  as  of  war,  they  were  responsible  not 
only  for  keeping  open  supplies  of  food  from  abroad,  but  for 
protecting  the  state  from  treasonable  attacks  on  the  part  of 
her  own  children"  (Gardner-Jevons,  Manual  of  Gruk  An- 
tiquities,  pp.  468  fif.). 

Counoillor:  member  of  the  Council  of  Five  Hundred, 
created  by  Cleisthenes  (510-508  B.C.),  and  composed  of 
fifty  men  from  each  of  the  ten  tribes,  elected  annually  and 
by  lot  from  a  body  of  citizens  nominated  by  their  demes,  or 
townships,  for  this  post.  The  Council  re»ally  served  as  a 
large  executive  committee  for  the  Ecclesia,  or  General  As- 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


187 


sembly,  and  all  its  members  were  also  members  of  the  Ecclesia 
(Gardner-Jevons,  op.  cit.,  pp.  484  ff.). 

V.  2.  Hiero:  not  otherwise  known.  The  details  of  his 
relations  to  Nicias  are  probably  taken  from  the  dialogue  of 
Pasiphon  mentioned  in  iv.  2,  and  Pasiphon  (or  whoever  the 
author  is  from  whom  Plutarch  directly  or  indirectly  draws  this 
material)  probably  got  them  from  the  comic  poets  (Intro- 
duction, pp.  1  f.).  There  is  therefore  much  allowance  to  be 
made  for  exaggeration. 

Dionysius:  Athenaeus  (xv.  p.  669  d)  speaks  of  him  as 
orator  and  poet,  and  explains  his  surname  of  Ghalcvs,  or 
**  The  Copper ",  from  his  having  advised  the  Athenians  to 
mint  a  small  copper  coin  of  the  value  of  J/^  of  an  obol,  or  less 
than  a  farthing.  His  poems  are  often  referred  to,  and  some- 
times cited.  Seven  fragments  appear  in  Bergk's  Poetae 
Lgrici  Oraeci* ,  ii  pp.  262  ff.  They  are  of  light,  symposiac 
nature.  He  must,  however,  have  been  a  man  of  influence, 
since  he  was  one  of  the  commission  of  ten  appointed  by 
Athens  (scholiast  on  Aristophanes,  Clouds,  332)  to  lead  the 
colonizing  expedition  to  Thurii,  in  444  b.  c.  To  this  com- 
mission Lampon  the  Seer,  whom  Pericles  favored,  belonged 
(see  the  Pericles,  vi.  2  and  note).  There  was  probably  some- 
thing of  the  seer  and  prophet  in  Dionysius  also,  since  Hiero 
wished  to  be  believed  his  son. 

V.  4.  Could  say  what  Affamemnon  did:  this  orna- 
mental citation  from  the  Iphigeneia  at  Aulis  of  Euripides 
(w.  445  t),  is  probably  Plutarch's  own  supplement  to  the 
material  derived  from  Pasiphon's  dialogue.  Kirchhoff  cor- 
rects the  MSS.  of  Eiu-ipides  into  agreement  with  the  citation 
in  Plutarch  (reading,  however,  re  for  Be  in  both  clauses). 

VI.--XXVII.  Having  discussed  the  "nature"  and  "char- 
acter **  of  Nicias  in  chapters  ii.-v.,  Plutarch  now  begins  the 
recital  of  his  "deeds",  in  the  second  main  division  of  the 
Life.    See  the  first  note  on  ii.  1. 

YI.  1.  Fininsr  Ferioles :  in  the  autumn  of  430,  Pericles 
was  deposed  from  his  office  of  general,  tried  before  a  court  of 
fifteen  hundred  jurors,  found  guilty  of  a  misuse  of  the  public 


\ 


I 


188 


NOTES   ON  THE  NICIAS 


funds,  and  fined  fifty  talents.  The  sentence  was  purely  po- 
litical in  its  bearing.  See  the  Pericles,  xxxii.  2,  xxxv.  4,  and 
notes. 

Ostracising  Damon :  the  institution  of  ostracism,  devised 
by  Cleisthenes  the  reformer  (510-508),  provided  that  every 
year,  if  the  Assembly  of  the  people  so  desired,  the  citizens  of 
Athens  might  vote  in  the  agora  by  tribes,  each  citizen  placing 
in  an  urn  a  potsherd  (ostrakon)  inscribed  with  the  name  of 
the  person  whom  he  wished  to  be  "ostracised".  The  voting 
was  not  valid  unless  six  thousand  votes  at  least  were  cast 
(according  to  Philochorus,  Frag.  79  b,  unless  the  person  os- 
tracised had  at  least  six  thousand  votes),  and  whoever  had 
most  ostraka  inscribed  with  his  name  was  condemned  to 
leave  Attica  within  ten  days  for  ten  years.  He  was  allowed, 
however,  to  receive  the  revenues  from  his  property,  and  re- 
mained a  citizen  in  dbsentid.  Originally  intended  to  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  people  the  means  of  removing  an  am- 
bitious noble  who  was  scheming  to  restore  the  "tyranny", 
and  twice  so  employed  in  the  ostracisms  of  Hipparchus  (487) 
and  Megacles  (486),  the  institution  came,  as  early  as  484, 
when  Xanthippus,  and  482,  when  Aristides  was  ostracised, 
to  be  used  for  the  removal  of  a  powerful  opposition  to  the 
wishes  of  a  majority  of  the  people.  In  a  way,  therefore,  it 
led  to  a  tyranny  of  the  majority,  which  is  the  worst  of  all 
tyrannies.  Grote  defended  this  peculiar  institution  as  a  neces- 
sary safeguard  of  democracy  during  the  gradual  development 
at  Athens  of  a  "  constitutional  morality  "  {Hist  of  Greece^  iii. 
pp.  372  fif.). 

Damon  was  a  celebrated  musician,  philosopher,  and  states- 
man, to  whose  teachings  many  of  the  most  advanced  demo- 
cratic ideas  of  Pericles  were  ascribed.  His  political  activity 
was  afterwards  obscured,  like  that  of  Ephialtes,  by  the  more 
eminent  services  of  Pericles.  The  real  grounds  for  his  ostra- 
cism therefore  remain  imknown.  We  cannot  believe  what 
Plutarch  says  {AristideSy  i.  5),  that  it  was  "because  he  was 
thought  to  be  rather  extraordinary  in  his  wisdom  ",  nor  does 
the  great  biographer  come  much  nearer  the  truth  when  he 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


189 


says  (Pericles,  iv.  2)  that  Damon  "  was  ostracised  for  being  a 
great  schemer  and  a  friend  of  tyranny  ".  The  Damonides  of 
Oea,  who,  according  to  Aristotle  (Const  of  Athens,  xxvii.  4), 
was  ostracised  because  he  was  thought  to  have  suggested  most 
of  his  political  innovations  to  Pericles,  was  in  all  probability 
the  same  person  (see  the  note  on  the  Pericles,  iv.  2).  It  is 
possible  that  in  some  reaction  against  the  more  radical  meas- 
ures of  Pericles,  of  which  we  have  no  definite  record,  Damon 
(Damonides)  was  ostracised  to  make  way  for  more  conserva- 
tive coimsels,  or  to  rebuke  a  too  presumptuous  administration. 
The  most  probable  date  for  this  ostracism  is  between  450  and 
446  B.  G. 

DisoreditinfiT  Antiphon :  though  a  man  of  the  greatest 
gifts  and  powers,  highly  educated,  and  a  trained  rhetorician 
and  orator,  Antiphon  never  won  the  confidence  of  the  people. 
He  was  bom  during  the  great  Persian  wars,  not  far  from  480, 
and  was  always  aristocratic  in  his  political  sympathies.  He 
was  placed  first  among  the  ten  orators  of  the  Attic  canon, 
and  some  fifteen  orations  reputed  to  be  his  have  come  down 
to  us,  but  the  genuineness  of  many  of  these  is  disputed.  He 
first  took  active  and  open  part  in  politics  during  the  revolu- 
tion of  the  Four  Hundred  (411),  and  on  the  failure  of  this, 
was  tried  and  executed.  Thucydides  departs  from  his  usual 
impersonal  methods  to  pay  him  a  most  remarkable  tribute 
(viii.  68, 1-2).  In  it  is  a  sentence  which  is  the  best  com- 
mentary on  the  words  of  Plutarch :  "  To  the  multitude,  who 
were  suspicious  of  his  great  abilities,  he  was  an  object  of 
dislike."  Of  course  the  condemnation  of  Antiphon  cannot 
be  referred  to  by  Plutarch  here,  because  that  was  subsequent 
to  the  death  of  Nicias. 

VI.  2.  The  fate  of  Paohes:  this  is  included  in  another 
list  of  the  shortcomings  of  the  people  in  dealing  with  their 
leaders,  —  "the  exile  of  Themistocles,  the  imprisonment  of 
Miltiades,  the  fine  of  Pericles,  the  death  of  Paches  in  the 
court-room  (he  slew  himself  on  the  rostrum  when  he  saw 
that  he  was  convicted)",  —  given  by  Plutarch  in  his  Aris- 
tides, xxvi  3.     Paches  was  the  conqueror  of  the  revolted 


i'i 


/. 


190 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


Mitylenaeans,  in  427.  Thucydides  describes  his  expedition 
at  great  length,  but  says  nothing  of  his  death.  Nor  does 
Diodorus  (Ephonis),  though  his  account  of  the  subjugation 
of  Lesbos  is  somewhat  detailed  (xii  55).  The  context  of  both 
passages  in  Plutarch  implies  that  it  was  the  imgrateful  atti- 
tude of  the  people  which  drove  Paches  to  the  fatal  deed, 
and  this  is  doubtless  true,  although  there  is  an  epigram  of 
Agathias  (floruit  circa  575  A.  D.),  preserved  in  the  Palatine 
Anthology  (viL  614),  which  makes  his  death  due  to  the  tes- 
timony before  the  Athenian  people  of  two  beautiful  women 
of  Mitylene,  to  the  efifect  that  he  had  mxmiered  their  hus- 
bands in  order  to  get  them  into  his  power  for  haae  uses. 
The  story  may,  or  may  not  be  true.  It  was  no  uncommon 
thing  at  Athens  for  a  successful  general  to  be  tried  on  his 
return  from  a  campaign  for  malversation  in  office.  The  list 
of  generals  thus  brought  to  trial  is  a  long  ona  It  begins 
with  Miltiades,  the  victor  of  Marathon,  and  contains  the 
names  of  Themistocles,  Cimon,  Pericles,  Phormio,  Paches, 
Thucydides  the  historian,  and  Alcibiades.  "Whether  the 
punishment  of  bad  generals  did  the  state  good  in  any  pro- 
portion to  the  evil  wrought  by  the  unjust  accusation  of 
faithful  servants,  is  a  question  which  may  perhaps  be  de- 
bated. What  is  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt  is  the 
injurious  efifect  which  the  fear  of  accusation  had  on  gen- 
erals in  the  conduct  of  their  campaigns"  (Gardner- Jevons, 
Manual  of  Greek  Antiquities,  p.  469).  We  shall  soon  find 
this  eminently  true  in  the  case  of  Nicias  himself,  before 
Syracuse  (chap.  xxiL  3;  Thuc.,  viL  48). 

VL  3.  Many  great  reverses:  the  list  is  carelessly 
thrown  together,  and  shows  slight  regard  for  chronological 
sequence,  together  with  some  inaccuracies. 

Calliades :  an  error  for  Callias,  the  son  of  Calliades,  who 
should  not  be  associated  with  a  "  reverse  **.  On  the  revolt 
of  Potidaea,  in  432,  the  Chalcidians  also  revolted  and  swore 
alliance  with  them.  The  Corinthians  sent  some  two  thou- 
sand troops  to  aid  them,  whereupon  the  Athenians  "sent 
against  the  revolted  towns  forty  ships  and  two  thousand 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


191 


of  their  own  hoplites  under  the  conmiand  of  Callias  the  son 
of  Calliades,  and  four  others  ".  In  a  battle  under  the  walls  of 
Potidaea,  the  Athenians  were  victorious,  "  raised  a  trophy,  and 
granted  the  Potidaeans  a  truce  for  the  burial  of  their  dead. 
Of  the  Potidaeans  and  their  allies,  there  fell  somewhat  less 
than  three  hundred ;  of  the  Athenians,  a  hundred  and  fifty, 
and  their  general  Callias  "  (Thuc,  L  58-63). 

Xenophon :  in  the  summer  of  429,  the  third  year  of  the 
war,  Potidaea  being  in  the  possession  of  the  Athenians,  they 
"  sent  an  expedition  against  the  Chalcidians  of  Thrace  .... 
consisting  of  two  thousand  heavy-armed  troops  of  their  own 
and  two  hundred  horsemen  imder  the  command  of  Xenophon 
the  son  of  Euripides,  and  two  others".  They  were  out- 
maneuvered  and  put  to  flight  by  their  enemies.  "At  length 
they  escaped  to  Potidaea,  and  having  recovered  their  dead 
under  a  flag  of  truce,  returned  to  Athens  with  the  survivors 
of  their  army,  out  of  which  they  had  lost  foiu:  hundred  and 
thirty  men  and  all  their  generals  "  (Thuc,  ii  79).  Xenophon 
was  one  of  the  generals  to  whom  Potidaea  had  surrendered 
in  430  (Thuc,  ii  70). 

The  Aetolian  disaster :  in  the  summer  of  426,  the  sixth 
year  of  the  war,  Demosthenes  and  Procles  were  sent  with 
thirty  ships  round  Peloponnesus.  They  were  joined  by  a 
large  armament  in  an  attack  upon  the  island  and  city  of 
Leucas.  But  from  this  imdertaking,  which  promised  suc- 
cess, Demosthenes  was  lured  away  by  the  Messenians  of 
Naupactus  into  an  invasion  of  Aetolia,  in  the  bold  hope  of 
penetrating  by  way  of  this  country  into  Phocis  and  attack- 
ing Boeotia.  Abandoned  by  the  Acamanians  and  Corcyrae- 
ans,  "with  the  remainder  of  his  army,  which  consisted  of 
Cephallenians,  Zacynthians,  and  three  hundred  marines  be- 
longing to  the  Athenian  fleet,"  he  set  out  on  his  rash  march. 
In  the  heart  of  the  wild  Aetolian  country  his  army  was  sur- 
rounded by  the  light-armed  Aetolian  mountaineers,  defeated 
and  dispersed.  "  Many  of  the  allies  fell,  and  of  the  Athenian 
heavy-armed  about  a  hundred  and  twenty,  all  in  the  flower 
of  their  youth ;  they  were  the  very  finest  men  whom  the  city 


t 


( 


■  *i 


192 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


193 


of  Athens  lost  during  the  war.  Procles,  one  of  the  two  gen- 
erals, was  also  killed.  When  they  had  received  the  bodies 
of  their  dead  under  a  flag  of  truce  from  the  Aetolians,  they 
retreated  to  Naupactus,  and  returned  in  their  ships  to  Athens. 
Demosthenes  remained  behind  in  Naupactus  and  the  neigh- 
borhood ;  for,  after  what  had  happened,  he  feared  the  anger 
of  the  Athenians  "  (Thuc,  iii  91, 94-98). 

At  Delium :  in  the  summer  of  424,  the  eighth  year  of  the 
war,  a  plot  for  the  betrayal  of  Boeotia  into  the  hands  of  Hip- 
pocrates and  Demosthenes,  the  Athenian  generals,  was  frus- 
trated, and  Hippocrates,  who  "  had  called  out  the  whole  force 
of  Athens,  metics  as  well  as  citizens,  and  all  the  strangers 
who  were  then  in  the  city  ",  fortified  Delium,  a  temple  of 
Apollo  in  Boeotia,  and  after  leaving  a  garrison  there,  set  out 
homewards  with  the  rest  of  his  army.  The  light-armed 
troops  went  on  ahead,  but  the  heavy-armed,  some  seven  thou- 
sand in  number,  and  the  cavalry,  halted  to  rest.  They  were  at- 
tacked by  the  Boeotian  army  of  seven  thousand  heavy-armed 
and  ten  thousand  light-armed  troops,  and  routed  with  great 
slaughter.  "  The  Boeotians  lost  somewhat  less  than  five 
hundred ;  the  Athenians  not  quite  a  thousand,  and  Hippoc- 
rates their  general  Delium  was  captured  seventeen  days 
after  the  battle"  (Thuc,  iv.  89-101). 

The  plague :  in  the  winter  of  427,  "  the  plague,  which  had 
never  entirely  disappeared,  although  abating  for  a  time,  again 
attacked  the  Athenians.  It  continued  on  this  second  occa- 
sion not  less  than  a  year,  having  previously  lasted  for  two 
years.  To  the  power  of  Athens  certainly  nothing  was  more 
ruinous ;  not  less  than  four  thousand  four  hundred  Athenian 
hoplites  who  were  on  the  roll  died,  and  also  three  himdred 
horsemen,  and  an  incalculable  number  of  the  common  peo- 
ple "  (Thuc,  iii  87).  For  the  details  of  the  first  visitation,  see 
Thucydides,  ii  47-58,  and  Plutarch,  Pericles,  xxxiv.-xxxvi 

VL  4.  The  list  of  Nicias*  successes  is  even  more  careless, 
irregular,  and  inaccurate  than  that  of  the  city's  reverses.  But 
this  fact  does  not  lessen  materially  the  effectiveness  of  Plu- 
tarch's portraiture.     Nicias  took  no  chances,  and  was  invari- 


ably successful  This  truth,  emphasized  also  by  Thucydides* 
deepens  the  tragedy  of  his  final  failure  (c/.  Thuc,  v.  16, 1 ; 
vii.  77,  2). 

Captured  Cythera :  in  the  summer  of  424,  the  eighth 
year  of  the  war,  to  offset,  in  some  measure,  the  triumph  of 
Cleon  in  the  capture  of  Sphacteria  (chap.  viiL).  The  loss  of 
Cythera,  coming  so  soon  after  that  of  Pylos  and  Sphacteria, 
brought  the  Spartans  to  the  verge  of  despair  (Thuc,  iv.  53- 
55).  The  reputed  advice  of  Demaratus  to  Xerxes,  that  he 
seize  this  island  of  Cythera  as  a  menace  to  Sparta  (Herod., 
vii  235),  may  well  have  been  invented  under  the  tremendous 
impression  produced  in  the  Hellenic  world  by  this  triumph- 
ant success  of  Nicias. 

Captured  many  places  in  Thrace :  this  must  refer  to  the 
expedition  of  Nicias  and  Nicostratus,  in  423,  to  the  Chal- 
cidic  peninsula,  where  they  captured  Mende,  blockaded 
Scione,  made  favorable  terms  with  Perdiccas,  king  of  Mace- 
donia, who  had  previously  been  cooperating  with  the  Spar- 
tan Brasidas,  and  then  returned  home  (Thuc,  iv.  129-133). 

Minoa  ....  Nisaea:  in  this  sentence  Plutarch  blends  in- 
cidents of  two  entirely  different  expeditions,  one  imder  com- 
mand of  Nicias,  in  427,  the  fifth  year  of  the  war,  "  against 
the  island  of  Minoa,  which  lies  in  front  of  Megara  "  (Thuc, 
iii  51) ;  and  one  under  command  of  Demosthenes  and  Hip- 
pocrates, in  424,  the  eighth  year  of  the  war,  which  narrowly 
failed  in  an  attempt  to  captiu:e  Megara,  but  did  succeed  in 
taking  Nisaea,  its  harbor-city,  connected  with  it  by  long 
walls  (Thuc,  iv.  66-69). 

Descent  upon  Corinth :  immediately  after  the  surrender 
of  Sphacteria,  in  the  summer  of  425,  the  seventh  year  of  the 
war, "  the  Athenians  attacked  the  Corinthian  territory  with 
eighty  ships,  two  thousand  heavy-armed,  and  cavalry  to  the 
number  of  two  hundred  conveyed  on  horse  transports.  They 
were  accompanied  by  allies  from  Miletus,  Andros,  and  Carys- 
tuB.  Nicias  the  son  of  Niceratus,  and  two  others,  were  in 
command  "  (Thuc,  iv.  42, 1).  The  Athenians  gained  a  partial 
victory  only,  on  their  left  wing,  where  the  Corinthians  in- 


i 


194 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


NOTES   ON  THE   NICIAS 


195 


curred  a  heavy  loss,  and  where  Lycophron,  their  general,  was 
slain.  The  Athenian  right  wing  was  defeated  and  driven 
back  to  their  ships.  When  reenforcements  for  the  Corinthi- 
ans came  up, "  the  united  army  then  advanced  against  the 
Athenians,  who,  fancying  that  a  reinforcement  had  come 
from  the  neighbouring  states  of  Peloponnesus,  quickly  re- 
treated to  their  ships,  taking  their  spoils  and  then-  own  dead, 
with  the  exception  of  two  whom  they  could  not  find ;  they 
then  embarked  and  sailed  to  the  neighbouring  islands.  Thence 
they  sent  a  herald  asking  for  a  truce,  and  recovered  the  two 
dead  bodies  which  were  missing.  The  Corinthians  lost  two 
hundred  and  twelve  men ;  the  Athenians  hardly  so  many  as 
fifty  "  (Thuc,  iv.  44). 

VI.  5.  Left  unnoticed  on  the  field:  the  tenor  of  the  story 
is  quite  different  from  that  of  Thucydides,  just  cited,  and  aims 
to  enhance  the  credit  of  Nicias,  who  really  did  nothing  more 
than  his  plain  duty. 

VI.  6.  Ravaged  the  coeuBts  of  Laconia:  this  was  in  424, 
the  eighth  year  of  the  war,  immediately  after  the  capture  of 
Cythera  (§  4),  from  which  island  the  Athenians  "  sailed  away, 
made  descents  upon  Asin^,  Helos,  and  most  of  the  other 
maritime  towns  of  Laconia,  and,  encamping  wherever  they 
found  convenient,  ravaged  the  country  for  about  seven  days" 

(Thuc,  iv.  54). 

Captured  Thyrea:  in  the  summer  of  431,  the  Athenians 
had  "  expelled  the  Aeginetans  and  their  families  from  Aegina, 
allying  that  they  had  been  the  main  cause  of  the  war.  .  .  . 
The  Lacedaemonians  gave  the  Aeginetan  exiles  the  town  of 
Thyrea  to  occupy  and  the  adjoining  country  to  cultivate, 
partly  in  order  to  annoy  the  Athenians,  partly  out  of  grati- 
tude to  the  Aeginetans,  who  had  done  them  good  service 
at  the  time  of  the  earthquake  and  the  revolt  of  the  He- 
lots.    The  Thyrean  territory  is  a  strip  of  land  coming  down 
to  the  sea  on  the  borders  of  Argolis  and  Laconia.     There 
some  of  them  found  a  home ;  others  dispersed  over  Hellas  " 
(Thuc,  ii  27).     Now,  in  424,  those  who  had  found  a  home 
at  Thyrea  were  either  slain  in  battle  by  the  Athenians,  or 


carried  alive  to  Athens  and  put  to  death  there  (Thuc,  iv.  57, 
4).  Of  those  who,  in  431,  had  **  dispersed  over  Hellas  ",  as 
many  as  could  be  collected  together  were  restored  to  their 
island  by  Lysander,  after  the  fall  of  Athens,  in  404  (see  the 
note  on  the  Themistocles^  iv.  1). 

VII.  In  iv.  2-41,  Thucydides  relates,  in  his  most  circum- 
stantial and  graphic  manner,  the  campaign  at  Pylos  and 
Sphacteria,  a  major  episode  of  the  war,  second  perhaps  in  im- 
portance only  to  the  Sicilian  e3q)edition.  It  is  impossible  to 
condense  this  narrative  of  Thucydides  without  some  loss  of 
clarity  and  vigor.  How  poorly  it  can  be  done,  may  be  seen 
in  the  pages  of  Diodorus  (Ephorus),  xii  61-63 ;  how  well,  in 
this  seventh  chapter  of  the  Nicias  (together  with  one  sen- 
tence of  the  eighth),  where  one  third  of  the  space  occupied  by 
Diodorus  serves  to  give  us  what  is,  on  the  whole,  an  admira- 
ble r^sum^  of  the  famous  Thucydidean  episode. 

VII.  1.  Demosthenes  fortified  Pylos :  Pylos  was  an  an- 
cient, ruined  citadel,  on  the  precipitous  promontory  of  Cory- 
phasium,  at  the  north-western  edge  of  a  great  harbor  on  the 
western  coast  of  Messenia,  —  the  modem  bay  of  Navarino. 
In  front  of  the  harbor,  running  north  and  south,  lay  the  nar- 
row island  of  Sphacteria,  leaving  entrances  into  the  harbor 
at  its  two  extremities.  In  the  spring  of  425  b.  c,  the  Athe- 
nians sent  a  fleet  of  forty  ships  imder  Eurymedon  and  Soph- 
ocles to  reenforce  their  fleet  abeady  operating  about  Sicily 
under  Pythodorus.  Demosthenes,  who  had  partially  redeemed 
by  subsequent  successes  his  defeat  in  Aetolia  (see  on  vi.  3), 
obtained  permission  to  go  with  this  fleet,  and  to  make  such 
use  of  it  on  the  coast  of  Peloponnesus  as  he  desired.  A 
storm  drove  the  fleet  into  the  harbor  of  Pylos.  "  Instantly 
Demosthenes  urged  them  to  fortify  the  place ;  this  being  the 
project  which  he  had  in  view  when  he  accompanied  the 
fleet "  (Thuc,  iv.  3,  2).  Neither  generals  nor  soldiers  would 
listen  to  him  at  first,  but  being  detained  there  by  bad 
weather,  they  at  last  began  the  work,  and  in  six  days  com- 
pleted it,  and  then  left  Demosthenes  there  with  five  ships  to 
defend  it.     Good  results  foUpwed  immediately.     The  Spar- 


V-! 


i 


196 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIA8 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


197 


tans  withdrew  their  army  of  invasion  from  Attica,  and  closed 
in  upon  Pylos  with  fleet  and  army.  Their  fleet  occupied  the 
harbor  of  Pylos,  and  they  posted  a  large  detachment  of  hop- 
lites  on  the  island  of  Sphacteria. 

A  battle  was  fought:  the  Lacedaemonians  tried  in  vain 
to  storm  the  position  of  Demosthenes,  and  the  main  Athe- 
nian fleet,  returning  from  Zacynthus  in  answer  to  his  sum- 
mons, crushed  the  Spartan  fleet  and  blockaded  on  the  island 
of  Sphacteria  a  detachment  of  four  hundred  and  twenty 
hoplites,  "besides  the  Helots  who  attended  them"  (Thuc, 
iv.  8,  9).  This  produced  the  utmost  consternation  at  Sparta, 
whose  magistrates  "decided  that  with  the  consent  of  the 
Athenian  generals  they  would  suspend  hostilities  at  Pylos, 
and  sending  ambassadors  to  ask  for  peace  at  Athens,  would 
endeavour  to  recover  their  men  as  soon  as  possible  "  (Thuc, 

iv.  15,  2). 

VIL  2.  Vote  down  the  truce:  he  persuaded  them  to 
make  extravagant  demands,  and  then  to  refuse  the  request 
of  the  Spartan  envoys  for  the  appointment  of  special  commis- 
sioners to  discuss  with  them  the  terms  of  agreement.  Un- 
willing to  plead  their  cause  before  the  whole  Assembly,  the 
Spartan  envoys  returned  home  (Thuc.,  iv.  21-22).  Thu- 
cydides  says  nothing  about  Cleon's  being  actuated  by  hatred 
of  Nicias,  and  it  is  not  necessary,  though  it  may  be  natural, 
to  infer  this.  And  in  judging  Cleon's  course  it  will  be  well 
to  remember  the  words  of  Grote,  who  speaks  of  him  (v. 
p.  240)  as  "a  man  who  —  like  leading  journals  in  modem 
times  —  often  appeared  to  guide  the  public  because  he 
gave  vehement  utterance  to  that  which  they  were  already 
feeling,  and  carried  it  out  in  its  collateral  bearings  and 
consequences  ". 

Angry  with  Cleon :  according  to  Thucydides  (iv.  27,  3), 
Cleon  knew  "  that  he  was  an  object  of  general  mistrust  be- 
cause he  had  stood  in  the  way  of  peace  ". 

VII.  3.  It  '8  not  too  late,  etc. :  "  Nicias  perceived  that 
the  multitude  were  murmuring  at  Cleon,  and  asking  *  why 
he  did  not  sail  —  now  was  his  time  if  he  thought  the  cap- 


ture of  Sphacteria  to  be  such  an  easy  matter ' "  (Thuc.,  iv. 
28, 1). 

VII.  4.  Tried  to  draw  back :  "  Cleon  at  first  imagined 
that  the  offer  of  Nicias  was  only  a  pretence,  and  was  willing 
to  go ;  but  finding  that  he  was  in  earnest,  he  tried  to  back 
out,  and  said  that  not  he  but  Nicias  was  general ...  At 
length,  not  knowing  how  to  escape  from  his  own  words,  he 
undertook  the  expedition  *'  (Thuc,  iv.  28). 

Moved  to  laughter :  **His  vain  words  moved  the  Athe- 
nians to  laughter;  nevertheless  the  wiser  sort  of  men  were 
pleased  when  they  reflected  that  of  two  good  things  they 
could  not  fail  to  obtain  one  —  either  there  would  be  an  end 
of  Cleon,  which  they  would  have  greatly  preferred,  or,  if  they 
were  disappointed,  he  would  put  the  Lacedaemonians  into 
their  hands  "  (Thuc.,  ibid.). 

VII.  5.  It  is  said:  the  ultimate  source  of  the  anecdote 
may  well  have  been  some  comic  poet,  though  it  is  first  found 
in  Theopompus  (Frag,  99).  Plutarch  alludes  to  it  also  in  his 
Praee.  ger,  reip.,  3  =  Morals,  p.  799  D. 

On  the  hill :  in  the  Pnyx,  "  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to 
the  west  of  the  Acropolis,  on  the  north-eastern  slope  of  the 
low  rocky  hill  which  rises  between  the  Museum  hill  (to  the 
south),  the  Areopagus  (to  the  north-east),  and  the  Hill  of 
the  Nymphs  (to  the  north).  The  place  is  a  huge  artificial 
platform  or  terrace  in  the  form  of  a  semicircle.  ...  It  is 
well  adapted  to  be  a  place  of  public  assembly,  and  could 
easily  accommodate  far  more  than  the  six  or  seven  thousand 
persons  who  seem  occasionally  to  have  gathered  to  vote" 
(Frazer,  Fausanias,  ii  pp.  375  ff.).  After  the  year  332  b.  c, 
the  theatre  of  Dionysus  became  the  regular  place  of  assembly 
for  the  people. 

VIII.  1.  The  first  sentence  summarizes  the  detailed  and 
graphic  story  of  Thucydides  in  iv.  29-39.  The  rest  of  the 
paragraph  is  natural  inference,  though  not  expressly  stated  by 
Thucydides.  To  atone  for  his  mistake,  Nicias  became  feveiv 
ishly  active,  and  his  campaigns  against  Cythera  and  Corinth 
were  meant  to  be  an  offset  to  the  success  of  Cleon  at  Sphacteria, 


f 


n 


198  NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 

Served  as  general. . .  .with  Demosthenes:  Demosthenes 
had  learned  by  a  bitter  experience  in   AetoUa,  the  year 
before,  that  heavy-armed  troops  could  not  cope  with  light- 
armed  in  a  wooded  country.    He  was  still  general,  though 
without  stated  command,  except  as  he  had  been  given  per- 
mission  to  utilize  the  passage  of  the  Athenian  fleet  round 
Peloponnesus,  on  its  way  to  Sicily,  for  his  own  secret  pur- 
poses.    Now  that  his  plans  had  been  so  signaUy  successful, 
he  saw  that  the  Lacedaemonians  on  Sphacteria  must  be 
overwhelmed  by  direct  attack,  but  found  that  Nicias,  who, 
as  head  of  the  college  of  generals,  was  directing  the  cam- 
paign from  Athens,  was  unwilling  to  have  the  risks  of  such 
tactics  taken.     Demosthenes  therefore  (in  all  probability) 
came  to  some  understanding  with  Cleon,  and  fuUy  explained 
to  him  the  needs  of  the  unusual  case.     It  is  not  unlikely 
that  in  the  Assembly  Cleon  really  outwitted  Nicias.     At 
any  rate,  he  finaUy  agreed  to  assume  the  command  against 
Pylos  "  if  he  were  allowed  to  have  the  Lemnian  and  Im- 
brian  forces  now  at  Athens,  the  auxiliaries  from  Aenus,  who 
were  targeteers,  and  four  hundred  archers  from  other  places. 
With  these  and  with  the  troops  already  at  Pylos  he  gave  his 
word  that  within  twenty  days  he  would  either  bring  the 
Lacedaemonians  alive  or  kiU  them  on  the  spot "  (Thuc,  iv. 
28,  4).    Then,  having  been  formally  authorized  by  the  Assem- 
bly to  make  the  attempt,  —  apparently  so  rash,  but  reaUy  so 
carefuUy  considered  and  planned  by  Demosthenes, —  "  he 
made  choice  of  Demosthenes,  one  of  the  commanders  at  Pylos, 
to  be  his  coUeague,  and  proceeded  to  sail  with  all  speed" 
(Thuc,  iv.  29, 1).    Thucydides,  in  his  contempt  for  Cleon, 
does   some  injustice  also  to  Demosthenes  m  not  making 
clear  that  enterprising  general's  part  in  the  plans  which  re- 
sulted in  such  complete  success.    Demosthenes  probably 
made  the  plans,  and  executed  them,  but  Cleon^s  cooperation  in 
the  Assembly  alone  made  it  possible  for  him  to  get  the  light- 
armed  troops  necessary  for  the  execution  of  them,  and  unim- 
peded authority  as  general  in  the  use  of  all  his  forces.     Be- 
ing a  vainglorious  man,  Cleon  claimed  and  received  more 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


199 


credit  for  the  eventual  capture  of  the  Lacedaemonians  on 
Sphacteria  than  he  deserved.  And  the  comic  poets,  espe- 
cially Aristophanes,  in  his  Knights,  go  to  the  other  extreme 
and  deny  that  he  deserved  any  credit  at  all.  Demosthenes 
had  the  Spartan  cake  at  Pylos  all  kneaded  and  baked,  when 
Cleon  stole  it  away  and  served  it  up  at  Athens  {Knights, 
w.  54-57). 

Prisoners  of  war:  "The  number  of  the  dead  and  the 
prisoners  was  as  follows:  Four  hundred  and  twenty  hop- 
lites  in  all  passed  over  into  the  island ;  of  these,  two  hun- 
dred and  ninety-two  were  brought  to  Athens  alive,  the 
remainder  had  perished.  Of  the  survivors  the  Spartans 
numbered  about  a  hundred  and  twenty.  ...  On  the  arrival 
of  the  captives  the  Athenians  resolved  to  put  them  in  chains 
until  peace  was  concluded,  but  if  in  the  meantime  the  Lace- 
daemonians invaded  Attica,  to  bring  them  out  and  put  them 
to  death  "  (Thuc,  iv.  38,  5 ;  41, 1).  The  captives  were  sur- 
rendered on  the  conclusion  of  peace  in  421  (Thuc,  v.  24, 1). 
The  Spartans  among  them  were  for  a  time  deprived  of  the 
rights  of  citizenship  (Ibid,,  34,  2). 

Cast  away  his  shield:  the  mark  of  cowardice  in  a  com- 
mon soldier.  "  A  man  does  not  always  deserve  to  be  called 
the  thrower  away  of  his  shield ;  he  may  be  only  the  loser  of 
his  arms  "  (Plato,  Laws,  p.  944  B). 

VIII.  2.  Again  scoffs  at  him:  Aristophanes  has  already 
been  cited  against  Nicias  in  iv.  6.  The  Birds  was  brought 
out  in  the  spring  of  414,  while  Nicias  was  absent  on  the 
Sicilian  expedition.  The  verses  here  cited  (w.  638  f.)  are 
spoken  by  the  Hoopoe,  after  Peisthetaerus  has  propounded 
to  the  birds  his  scheme  for  a  cloud-city,  and  they  have 
eagerly  adopted  it.  The  next  verse  continues :  "  But  just 
as  soon  as  ever  may  be,  we  must  act."  The  reference  is 
therefore  either  to  the  hesitating  conduct  of  Nicias  in  get- 
ting the  expedition  under  way,  or,  perhaps,  to  his  failure  to 
accomplish  anything  important  since  the  expedition  started, 
six  months  before.  In  no  case  can  the  reference  be  to  his 
treatment  of  the  Sphacteria  problem. 


M 


200 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


Only  fragments  of  the  Farmers  have  come  down  to  us.  It 
would  seem  to  have  been  brought  out  shortly  after  the  cam- 
paign at  Pylos,  judging  from  the  verses  here  cited  (Kock, 
Com.  Att  Frag.y  i.  p.  416),  and  other  citations  bespeak  for 
it  the  same  general  character  as  that  of  the  Achamians,  — 
a  plea  for  peace.  One  of  the  rural  population  imprisoned 
within  the  walls  of  the  city  by  the  Spartan  invasions,  wants 
to  revisit  his  farm  in  the  country,  and  buys  the  privilege  of 
doing  so  from  the  Assembly. 

VIII.  3.  Stripped  the  bema  of  decorum:  of  Cleon,  Aris- 
totle says  (Const,  of  Athens,  xxviiL  3) :  "  He  seems  most  of 
all  to  have  corrupted  the  people  by  his  wild  schemes,  and 
he  was  the  first  to  yell  upon  the  bema,  and  to  resort  to  coarse 
abuse,  and  to  harangue  with  his  robe  girt  high  up,  whereas 
others  spoke  with  decorum."  However,  Plutarch  is  not  using 
Aristotle  here,  but  Theopompus,  who  drew  from  the  same 
source  as  Aristotle  (Introd.,  p.  4).  Plutarch's  citations  from 
Aristophanes  also  are  probably  due  to  Theopompus. 

The  bema  was  a  cube  of  rock  about  eleven  feet  square, 
resting  on  a  three-stepped  platform  which  projected  from  the 
wall  of  rock  forming  the  chord  of  the  semi-circular  Pnyx 
terrace  (see  the  note  on  vii.  5).  The  orators  ascended  this 
bema  to  address  the  Assembly. 

IX.  1.  Aloibiades  a  power:  from  425  onwards  he  is 
prominent  enough  in  Athenian  life  to  be  a  mark  for  the 
raillery  of  Aristophanes ;  by  421  he  has  a  political  follow- 
ing.    See  the  Alcihiades,  chap.  xiiL 

Drugs  .  .  .  de€uily :  a  verse  from  the  Odyssey,  iv.  230. 

IX.  2.  The  way  it  oame  about:  The  phrase  covers  the 
narrative  following  as  far  as  the  close  of  chap,  x.,  which  con- 
denses Thucydides  v.  18-56,  and  shows  that  Plutarch  re- 
garded the  war  as  reopened  in  419,  when  the  Athenians 
put  Helots  back  in  Pylos  to  ravage  Laconian  territory  from 
there.  But  the  "  doubtful  truce ",  as  Thucydides  character- 
izes the  Peace  of  Nicias  (v.  26,  3),  lasted,  according  to  him, 
until  the  Spartans  renewed  their  invasions  of  Attica,  in  414, 
as  retaliation  for  Athenian  ravaging  of  Laconian  territory 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


201 


(v.  25,  3 ;  vi.  105 ;  vii.  18).  "  Including  the  first  ten  years' 
war,  the  doubtful  truce  which  followed,  and  the  war  which 
followed  that,  he  who  reckons  up  the  actual  periods  of  time 
will  find  that  the  war  lasted  twenty-seven  years.  If  any  one 
argue  that  the  interval  during  which  the  truce  continued 
should  be  excluded,  he  is  mistaken.  The  term  *  peace '  can 
hardly  be  applied  to  a  state  of  things  in  which  ....  there 
were  violations  of  the  treaty  on  both  sides." 

Cleon  and  Brasidas:  "  When  Athens  had  received  a  sec- 
ond blow  at  Amphipolis,  and  Brasidas  and  Cleon,  who  had 
been  the  two  greatest  enemies  of  peace,  —  the  one  because 
the  war  brought  him  success  and  reputation,  and  the  other 
because  he  fancied  that  in  quiet  times  his  rogueries  would 
be  more  transparent  and  his  slanders  less  credible,  —  had 
fallen  in  the  battle,  the  two  chief  aspirants  for  political 
power  at  Athens  and  Sparta,  Pleistoanax  the  son  of  Pau- 
sanias,  king  of  the  Lacedaemonians,  and  Nicias  the  son  of 
Niceratus  the  Athenian,  who  had  been  the  most  fortunate 
general  of  his  day,  become  more  eager  than  ever  to  make  an 
end  of  the  war"  (Thuc,  v.  16, 1). 

IX.  3.  The  battle  before  Amphipolis :  in  the  autumn 
of  422.  A  graphic  description  of  it  is  given  in  Thucydides, 
V.  8-11. 

To  give  himself  rest:  See  the  citation  from  Thucydides 
in  the  note  on  ii.  4. 

IX.  4.  Held  out  hopes  to  the  Spartans:  no  such  prom- 
inence is  given  to  Nicias  in  the  account  of  the  negotiations 
which  Thucydides  has  (v.  17),  but  it  is  reasonable  inference 
and  individualization  on  the  part  of  Plutarch. 

IX.  5.  Stay  of  hostilities  for  a  year:  in  the  spring  of 
423,  the  Athenians  and  Lacedaemonians  made  a  preliminary 
truce  for  a  year.  Each  party  was  to  remain  within  its  own 
territory  and  retain  what  it  had.  During  the  year  of  truce, 
ambassadors  were  to  go  from  one  state  to  the  other  with  pro- 
posals for  a  definite  peace.  But  Brasidas  in  Thrace  re- 
fused to  be  bound  by  the  truce,  and  hostilities  therefore 
continued  in  that  quarter  (Thuc,  iv.  117-135).    After  the 


202 


NOTES   ON   THE   NICIAS 


NOTES  ON   THE   NICIAS 


203 


truce  had  expired,  early  in  422,  Cleon  made  his  fatal  expedi- 
tion for  the  recapture  of  Amphipolis  (Thuc,  v.  1-11). 

Let  my  speax,  etc.:  The  first  verse  of  a  beautiful  frag- 
ment of  the  Erechtheus  of  Euripides  (Nauck,  Trag,  Graec. 
Frag?,  p.  474),  which  continues :  — 

"  And  let  me  come  in  peace  to  dwell  with  hoary  age  ; 
And  let  rae  wreathe  my  hoary  head  with  wreaths  and  sing, 
My  Thracian  shield  upon  Athena's  pillared  house  hung  high, 
And  let  me  hear  from  out  the  tablets*  folds  the  words  that  wise  men 
utter." 

The  context  in  Plutarch  is  thought  to  give  a  clue  to  the 

date  of  the  lost  play. 

The  saying:  a  folk-proverb,  probably.     Poly  bins,  in  his 

tirade  against  Timaeus  (xii.  25  jin.,  26  init^,  accuses  him  of 
putting  into  the  mouth  of  Hermocrates,  the  Syracusan  gen- 
eral, "  certain  sentences  of  which  one  could  scarcely  believe 
that  any  commonplace  youth  would  have  been  capable.  For 
first  he  *  thinks  that  he  should  remind  the  congress  that 
in  war  sleepers  are  woke  at  dawn  by  bugles,  in  peace  by 
cocks  *.  Next  he  remarks  that  *  war  is  like  disease,  peace  like 
health.  .  .  .  Moreover,  in  time  of  peace,  the  old  are  buried 
by  the  young  as  nature  directs,  while  in  war  the  case  is  re- 
versed *  —  and  so  on.  I  wonder  what  other  arguments  would 
have  been  employed  by  a  youth  who  had  just  devoted  him- 
self to  scholastic  exercises  and  studies  in  history,  and  who 
wished,  according  to  the  rules  of  the  art,  to  adapt  his  words 
to  the  supposed  speakers  ?  Just  these,  I  think,  which  Ti- 
maeus represents  Hermocrates  as  using"  ''Schuckburgh's 
translation). 

IX.  6.  Thrice  nine  years:  "For  I  well  remember  how, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  war,  there  was  a  com- 
mon and  often-repeated  saying  that  it  was  to  last  thrice  nine 
years.  This  was  the  solitary  instance  in  which  those  who 
put  their  faith  in  oracles  were  justified  by  the  event**  (Thuc, 

V.  26,  4). 

IX.  7.  Peace  the  work  of  Nicias  :  Nicias  is  not  specially 
prominent  in  Thucydides*  account  of  the  actual  peace  nego- 


tiations. He  was  one  of  the  three  Athenians  appointed  to 
ratify  by  oath  the  one  year's  truce  (iv.  119,  2),  and  one  of 
the  seventeen  to  ratify  the  fifty  year  peace,  one  year  later 
(v.  19,  2).  Still,  there  is  no  doubt  that,  after  the  death  of 
Cleon,  Nicias  was  the  most  influential  man  at  Athens.  In 
v.  43,  2,  Thucydides  speaks  of  the  Lacedaemonians  as  nego- 
tiating the  peace  through  Nicias  and  Laches,  and  in  v.  46,  4 
of  Nicias  as  being  held  responsible  at  Athens  for  the  peace. 
Andocides  speaks  of  the  peace  as  "  the  one  which  Nicias  the 
son  of  Niceratus  effected  for  us"  (iii.  8,  delivered  about 
391  B.C.). 

X.  1.  Articles  of  peace :  they  are  given  in  full  by  Thucyd- 
ides in  V.  18.  Amphipolis  and  Panactum  were  the  principal 
places  to  be  restored  by  the  Lacedaemonians ;  Coryphasium 
and  Cythera  by  the  Athenians.  But  of  course  the  main 
object  of  Sparta  was  the  recovery  of  the  prisoners  taken  at 
Sphacteria.  Panactum  was  a  fortress  on  the  northern 
Athenian  frontier  which  had  been  betrayed  to  the  Boeotians 
in  422  (Thuc,  v.  3  >n.). 

First  to  make  restoration  :  "  The  Lacedaemonians  —  for 
the  lot  having  fallen  upon  them  they  had  to  make  restora- 
tion first  —  immediately  released  their  prisoners,  and  sending 
three  envoys  to  Chalcidice,  commanded  Clearidas  to  deliver 
up  Amphipolis  to  the  Athenians'*  (Thuc,  v.  21,  1).  The 
charge  of  Theophrastus  (Introd.,  p.  35)  that  Nicias  bought 
up  the  lot,  is  absurd.  It  is  characteristic  of  the  spirit  of 
the  Peripatetic  school  of  biography. 

X.  2.  A  mutual  alliance :  the  fifty  years'  peace  was  be- 
tween the  Athenians  and  the  Lacedaemonians  and  their 
respective  allies.  But  the  vote  for  it  was  by  no  means  unani- 
mous. The  Boeotians,  Corinthians,  Megarians,  and  Eleans 
were  bitterly  dissatisfied  (Thuc,  v.  17,  2).  Their  special 
grievances  against  Athens  were  far  from  being  healed  by  the 
general  peace.  They  therefore  refused  to  accept  the  treaty, 
whereupon  "the  Lacedaemonians  proceeded  on  their  own 
account  to  make  an  alliance  with  the  Athenians"  (Thuc, 
v.  22,  2).    They  hoped  by  this  step  to  isolate  the  powerful 


i  'i 


K 


204 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIA3 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


205 


state  of  Argos.  A  truce  for  thirty  years  which  they  had 
made  with  Argos  had  recently  expired,  and  the  Argives  were 
unwilling  to  renew  it  except  on  terms  which  Sparta  would 
not  grant.  "  The  Lacedaemonians  deemed  it  impossible  to 
fight  against  the  Argives  and  Athenians  combined.  They 
suspected  also  that  some  of  the  Peloponnesian  cities  would 
secede  and  join  the  Argives,  which  proved  to  be  the  case  " 
(Thuc,  V.  14,  4). 

X.  3.  A  separate  alliance  with  the  Boeotians:  finding 
that  the  Argives  were  forming  a  Peloponnesian  alliance 
hostile  to  Sparta,  and  that  Panactum  could  not  be  restored 
to  the  Athenians  without  the  consent  of  the  Boeotians  who 
were  in  possession  of  it,  the  Lacedaemonians  yielded  to  the 
request  of  the  Boeotians  for  a  separate  alliance,  although 
they  knew  that  this  involved  a  breach  of  faith  with  the 
Athenians.  A  strong  party  which  wished  the  peace  with 
Athens  broken  "  were  zealous  on  behalf  of  the  Boeotians. 
So  they  made  the  alliance  about  the  end  of  winter  and  the 
beginning  of  spring  [420].  The  Boeotians  at  once  com- 
menced the  demolition  of  Panactum"  (Thuc,  v.  39). 

Nor  Amphipolis  at  all :  the  Lacedaemonians  had  with- 
drawn their  troops  from  this  city,  but  could  not  force  it  back 
into  Athenian  possession.  They  protested,  however,  that 
"  they  had  neglected  nothing  which  lay  within  their  power  " 
(Thuc,  V.  35,  5). 

X.  4.  An  embassy  from  Argos  to  Athens :  Aldbiades 
had  opposed  the  general  peace  on  the  ground  that  Sparta's 
object  in  making  it  was  to  enable  her  to  crush  Argos  before 
attacking  Athens  again.  "  As  soon  as  the  rupture  occurred 
he  promptly  dispatched  a  private  message  to  the  Argives, 
bidding  them  send  an  embassy  as  quickly  as  they  could, 
together  with  representatives  of  Mantinea  and  Elis,  and  in- 
vite the  Athenians  to  enter  the  alliance  "  (Thuc,  v.  43,  3). 
Argive  ambassadors  were  at  that  very  time  trying  to  nego- 
tiate a  peace  with  Sparta,  and  a  written  treaty  had  actually 
been  drawn  up,  but  not  ratified.  The  message  of  Alcibiades 
showed  the  Argives  that  the  Spartan  alliance  with  Boeotia 


had  been  made  without  the  knowledge  of  Athens,  and  that 
Athens  and  Sparta  were  again  at  odds.  "  They  reflected  that 
Athens  was  a  city  which  had  been  their  friend  of  old ;  like 
their  own  it  was  governed  by  a  democracy,  and  would  be  a 
powerful  ally  to  them  at  sea,  if  they  were  involved  in  war. 
They  at  once  sent  envoys  to  negotiate  an  alliance  with  the 
Athenians ;  the  Eleans  and  Mantineans  joined  in  the  em- 
bassy. Thither  also  came  in  haste  three  envoys  from  Lace- 
daemon.  .  .  .  They  were  sent  because  the  Lacedaemonians 
were  afraid  that  the  Athenians  in  their  anger  would  join  the 
Argive  alliance.  The  envoys,  while  they  demanded  the  res- 
toration of  Pylos  in  return  for  Panactimi,  were  to  apologize 
for  the  alliance  with  the  Boeotians,  and  to  explain  that  it 
was  not  made  with  any  view  to  the  injury  of  Athens" 
(Thuc,  V.  44). 

Circumvented  them :  the  story  of  Alcibiades'  parliamen- 
tary trick  upon  Nicias,  which  now  follows  (§§  4-8)  is,  on 
the  whole,  a  very  good  condensation  of  Thucydides,  v.  45-46. 
The  aim  of  Alcibiades  was  to  alienate  the  Spartan  envoys 
from  Nicias, "  and  to  bring  about  an  alliance  with  Argos, 
Elis,  and  Mantinea,  which  he  hoped  to  effect,  if  he  could 
only  discredit  them  in  the  assembly,  and  create  the  impres- 
sion that  their  intentions  were  not  honest,  and  that  they 
never  told  the  same  tale  twice." 

X.  6.  The  Assembly  was  dissolved :  when  a  "  sign  from 
Zeus  "  occurred,  such  as  thunder  and  lightning,  earthquakes, 
or  prodigies  of  any  kind,  it  was  in  the  power  of  any  member 
of  the  Assembly  to  insist  that  it  be  dissolved. 

Send  him  on  an  embassy '  "  He  prevailed  on  them  to  send 
envoys,  of  whom  he  was  himself  one,  requiring  the  Lacedae- 
monians ...  to  restore  Amphipolis,  to  rebuild  and  restore 
Panactum,  and  to  renounce  their  alliance  with  the  Boeotians  " 

(Thuc,  V.  46,  2). 

X.  7.  The  party  which  had  Boeotian  sympathies  :  "The 
Lacedaemonians  refused  to  give  up  their  Boeotian  alliance, 
Xenares,  the  Ephor,  with  his  friends  and  partisans,  carrying 
this  point "  (Thuc,  v.  46,  4). 


ii 

>  *! 


I 


4, 
I 


206 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


To  the  leading  families  of  Sparta  :  of  the  two  hundred 
and  ninety-two  captives  brought  alive  to  Athens  (Thuc,  iv. 
38,  5,  cited  in  the  note  on  viii.  1),  only  about  a  hundred  and 
twenty  were  Spartans,  i,  e.  full  citizens  and  descendants  of 
the  ancient  Dorian  conquerors.  The  term  "Lacedaemo- 
nians" includes  the  Perioeci,  or  freemen  without  rights  of 
citizenship.  Much  the  same  statement  about  these  Spartans 
is  apparently  made  in  a  corrupt  passage  of  Thucydides  (v. 

15, 1). 

X.  8.  Elected  Alcibiades  general :  this  was  probably 
not  until  the  spring  of  the  following  year  (419),  as  is  implied 
by  Thucydides,  v.  52,  2.  Plutarch  is  careless  of  chronolog- 
ical sequence  in  a  group  of  events. 

An  alliance  with  the  Mantineans,  Eleans,  Argives  :  to 
continue  for  a  hundred  years.  The  terms  are  given  in  full 
by  Thucydides  in  v.  47.     It  was  merely  a  defensive  alliance. 

Sent  freebooters  to  Pylos:  in  the  summer  of  421,  the 
Athenians  had  been  persuaded  by  the  Spartans  to  withdraw 
from  Pylos  the  Messenians,  Helots,  and  Lacedaemonian 
deserters  with  whom  the  place  was  garrisoned,  and  hold  it 
themselves.  The  objectionable  garrison  was  settled  by  the 
Athenians  in  the  island  of  Cephallenia  (Thuc,  v.  35,  7  f.). 
In  the  winter  of  419,  by  the  advice  of  Alcibiades,  who  was 
now  one  of  the  generals,  these  marauders  were  sent  back  to 
Pylos  (Thuc,  v.  56,  3). 

Plunged  again  into  war :  see  the  note  on  ix.  2. 

XL  1.  At  last:  in  417,  after  the  so-called  Argive  war 
had  ended  in  the  defeat  of  the  Argives  and  their  Athenian 
allies  at  Mantinea,  and  Sparta  had  regained  her  old  prestige 
in  the  Hellenic  world.  Then  the  peace  party,  headed  by 
Nicias,  got  the  upper  hand  again,  and  the  far-reaching 
schemes  of  Alcibiades  suffered  eclipse. 

The  process  of  ostracism :  see  the  note  on  vL  1. 

From  time  to  time  :  the  privilege  of  ostracism  had  been 
exercised  only  eight  times  before  this.  The  first  four  cases 
are  mentioned  in  the  note  on  vi  1.  Themistocles  was  ostra- 
cised about  472,  Cimon  in  461,  Damon,  or  Damonides  of 


NOTES  ON  THE   NICIAS 


207 


Oea,  perhaps  between  450  and  446,  and  Thucydides  son  of 
Melesias  in  442. 

An  object  ofsuspicion  or  jealousy:  Plutarch  almost  in- 
variably fails  to  give  the  true  object  of  ostracism.  He  has 
no  conception  of  its  political  significance.  See  the  Themis- 
tocles,  xxiL  2 ;  the  Aristides,  viL  2  ;  the  Cimon,  xvii  2,  with 
the  notes.  In  the  first  sentence  of  §  3  below,  he  seems  to 
grasp,  for  a  moment,  the  real  principle  of  this  peculiar 
political  institution,  as  it  came  at  last  to  be  operated.  The 
people  ostracised  a  man  when  a  sufi&cient  number  of  them 
preferred  that  the  party  which  he  opposed  should  be  no 
longer  obstructed  in  its  policies. 

XL  2.  In  his  biography :  see  especially  chapter  xvl  of  the 
Alcibiades, 

Nicicus'  way  of  life :  see  chapter  v. 

XL  3.  In  a  time  of  sedition,  etc. :  a  proverb  in  hexameter 
verse,  attributed  to  Callimachus,  the  Alexandrian  poet  and 
scholar  (310-235  B.C.).  Plutarch  uses  it  also  in  his  Defra- 
temo  amore,  2  =  Morals,  p.  479  A. 

Hyperbolus :  as  in  the  case  of  Cleon,  it  is  difficult  to  form 
a  just  opinion  of  this  his  successor  in  the  leadership  of  the 
advanced  democracy,  because  he  is  so  mercilessly  lampooned 
by  the  comic  poets,  and  so  scornfully  condemned  by  Thucyd- 
ides (see  below  on  §  4).  Like  Cleon,  Hyperbolus  was  a 
manufactiurer,  and  not  a  man  of  ancient  family.  The  indus- 
trial and  commercial  class  found  in  him  a  fervid  advocate 
of  its  favorite  measures,  especially  of  extended  wars  of  con- 
quest. But  the  brilliant  Alcibiades  was  displacing  him  as  a 
leader  of  the  people,  so  that  there  were  really  two  represen- 
tatives of  extreme  democracy  opposed  to  the  conservative 
and  peace-loving  Nicias.  Hyperbolus  was  glad  to  have  the 
people  resort  to  the  process  of  ostracism,  hoping  that  they 
would  choose  between  Nicias  and  Alcibiades.  But  Alcibiades 
shrewdly  managed  to  have  the  choice  made  between  Nicias 
and  Hyperbolus.  He  was  probably  aided  in  this  political 
maneuver  by  Phaeax  and  a  body  of  young  aristocrats  under 
his  guidance,  who  favored  war  measures.     See  below  on  §  7. 


208 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


209 


XI.  4.  Took  secret  counBel  with  one  another:  it  is 
doubtful  whether  Nicias  was  privy  to  the  maneuver.  The 
collapse  of  Alcibiades'  plans  for  an  alliance  of  Peloponnesian 
states  against  Sparta,  coupled  with  the  distrust  which  was 
felt  towards  him  on  accoimt  of  his  wanton  life,  makes  it  seem 
probable,  so  far  as  we  can  now  judge  the  political  situation, 
that  the  ostracism  would  have  fallen  upon  him,  but  for  the 
coalition  which  he  effected  with  a  section  of  the  aristocratic 
party  led  by  Phaeax. 

Hsrperbolus  instead :  Thucydides  makes  no  mention  of 
this  ostracism  at  the  time  it  occurred.  But  in  describing 
the  revolution  of  the  Four  Hundred,  in  411,  he  says  that  a 
body  of  oligarchic  conspirators  in  the  Athenian  army,  then  at 
Samos,  plotted  to  support  their  political  brethren  in  Athens, 
"  and  prepared  to  attack  the  rest  of  the  popular  party  who 
had  previously  been  their  comrades.  There  was  a  certain 
Hyperbolus,  an  Athenian  of  no  character,  who,  not  for  any 
fear  of  his  power  and  influence,  but  for  his  villainy,  and  be- 
cause the  city  was  ashamed  of  him,  had  been  ostracised. 
This  man  was  assassinated  by  them  "  (Thuc,  viiL  73,  3).  A 
scholiast  on  Aristophanes,  Wasps,  1007,  apparently  puts  the 
assassination  of  Hyperbolus  six  years  after  his  ostracism. 
At  Samos,  then,  six  years  after  his  banishment  from  Athens, 
Hyperbolus  was  a  leader  of  the  advanced  democracy  in  the 
Athenian  army,  and,  as  such,  had  to  be  put  out  of  the  way 
by  oligarchical  plotters.  It  is  safe  to  say  also,  in  spite  of 
Thucydides,  that  it  was  in  consequence  of  his  great  political 
influence  that  he  was  ostracised,  and  not  because  "  the  city 
was  ashamed  of  him  ",  as  Thucydides  was. 

XL  5.  Thucydides:  the  son  of  Melesias,  the  able  oppo- 
nent of  Pericles.  He  was  the  last  victim  of  the  ostracism 
before  Hyperbolus,  in  442.  His  removal  from  Athens  gave 
Pericles  a  free  hand  in  carrying  out  his  imperial  policies.  See 
the  Pericles,  xiv.  2  and  note. 

Aristides :  Aristotle  (Const,  of  Athens,  xxii  7)  tells  us  that 
the  ostracism  of  Aristides  was  coincident  with  the  passage  of 
the  naval  bill  of  Themistocles  (483-482  b.  c).     The  removal 


of  Aristides,  that  is  to  say,  was  not  due  to  any  "  envious  dis- 
like of  his  reputation  ",  as  Plutarch  puts  it  (Aristides,  vii  2), 
but  to  the  wish  of  the  Athenian  people  that  Themistocles 
should  have  his  way  in  the  creation  of  a  great  navy. 

XL  6.  Plato  the  comic  poet:  a  contemporary  and  rival  of 
Aristophanes.  He  took  the  third  prize  with  a  "  Cleophon  *' 
when  Aristophanes  took  the  first  with  his  "  Frogs  "  (405  B.  c). 
The  name  of  the  play  from  which  the  following  verses  are 
taken,  is  uncertain  (Kock,  Corn.  Att,  Frag,,  L  p.  654). 

For  men  of  old :  reading  Kock's  r&v  irporepayp  for  r&v 
rpoirav. 

He  was  the  last :  heretofore  the  ostracism  had  been  em- 
ployed by  the  people  (1)  to  remove  a  powerful  noble  sus- 
pected of  designs  for  the  restoration  of  the  "  tyranny  ",  as  in 
the  cases  of  Hippeu-chus  and  Megacles ;  (2)  to  remove  pow- 
erful opposition  to  the  will  of  the  majority,  as  in  the  cases  of 
Xanthippus,  Aristides,  Themistocles,  Cimon,  and  Thucydides 
son  of  Melesias  ;  or  (3)  to  rebuke  and  weaken  a  too  aggres- 
sive administration  by  the  removal  of  a  devoted  counselor 
and  supporter,  as  in  the  case  of  Damonides.  In  all  these 
cases  the  ostracism  had  fallen  upon  men  of  high  birth  or 
distinction.  But  now,  in  consequence  of  a  shrewd  political 
maneuver,  it  had  fallen  upon  a  vulgar  demagogue,  and  appar- 
ently left  the  issue  of  war  or  peace,  on  which  the  citizens 
were  divided,  as  uncertain  as  before.  No  wonder  then  that 
later  historians  like  Ephorus  and  Theopompus,  whom  Plu- 
tarch echoes,  were  led  by  the  scornful  words  of  Thucydides 
to  speak  of  the  last  ostracism  as  a  fiasco,  so  shameful  as  to 
bring  the  Athenians  to  abandon  thenceforth  the  institution 
itself.  In  his  Aristides,  vii.  3,  Plutarch  says  that  by  the  os- 
tracism of  Hyperbolus  the  people  "  felt  that  the  institution 
had  been  insulted  and  abused,  and  so  they  abandoned  it  ut- 
terly and  put  an  end  to  it."  But  this  is  in  all  probability 
Plutarch's  own  inference  from  the  fact  that  the  process  of 
the  ostracism  was  never  resorted  to  again.  The  reasons  for 
this  lay  rather  in  the  loss  of  imperial  power  by  Athens,  and 
of  freedom  from  foreign  influence,  so  that  her  politics  never 


i-t- 


p 


iVl 


210 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


again  developed  such  acute  internal  crises  as  to  make  an 
ostracism  seem  desirable.  It  had  been  employed  at  ever  in- 
creasing intervals,  and  now  lapsed. 

But  even  this  last  ostracism  was  by  no  means  the  political 
fiasco  which  later  writers  represented  it  to  be.  The  elimina- 
tion of  Hyperbolus  led  to  greater  unity  in  the  war  party 
which  was  opposing  Nicias,  so  that  in  less  than  two  years  the 
vote  for  the  Sicilian  expedition  could  be  adopted  by  an  over- 
whelming majority,  and  its  opponents  held  their  peace  for 
fear  of  being  thought  unpatriotic  (Thuc,  vi.  24,  4).  A  fourth 
principle  in  the  exercise  of  the  ostracism  had  therefore  been 
introduced,  even  if  it  was  without  design,  that  of  strengthen- 
ing the  opposition  to  a  powerful  administration  by  removing 
a  factious  and  unworthy  member  of  that  opposition. 

Hipparohus  of  Cholargus :  this  deme  belonged  to  the 
Acamantid  tribe.  According  to  Aristotle  {Const  of  Athens ^ 
xxii.  3),  Hipparchus  belonged  to  the  deme  Colly tus,  of  the 
Aegeid  tribe,  and  was  ostracised  in  488-487,  in  the  first  ap- 
plication of  the  law  made  by  Cleisthenes  "  because  Peisis- 
tratus,  being  a  leader  of  the  people  and  a  general,  had  made 
himself  tyrant.  It  was  on  account  of  Hipparchus  especially, 
since  he  was  a  kinsman  of  Peisistratus,  that  Cleisthenes  made 
the  law,  wishing  to  banish  him." 

XL  7.  Theophrastus  says :  this  philosopher  (Introd.,p.  35) 
is  not  a  good  authority  in  a  question  of  this  sort,  and  it  is  pos- 
sible to  show  that  he  was  misled  into  this  statement.  Plu- 
tarch gives  a  brief  accoimt  of  the  ostracism  of  Hyperbolus  in 
his  Aristides,  vii.  3,  which  agrees  substantially  with  that  just 
given  in  the  Nicias.  In  his  AlcihiadeSy  xiii.,  however,  Phaeax 
is  brought  into  the  story  as  a  politician  in  rivalry  with  Al- 
cibiades,  and  liable  with  him  and  Nicias  to  the  sentence  of 
ostracism.  Plutarch  (or  his  source,  possibly  Ephorus)  has 
also  been  misled,  and  by  the  same  document  which  misled 
Theophrastus.  This  was  the  speech  "Against  Alcibiades" 
which  has  come  down  to  us  among  the  orations  of  Andocides 
(iv.).  It  is  clearly  a  fictitious  speech,  put  by  its  unknown 
author  into  the  mouth  of  Phaeax  (c/.  §§  2  and  41).     Plu- 


l»f 


NOTES  ON  THE   NICIAS 


211 


tarch  alludes  to  it  as  the  work  of  Phaeax  in  the  Alcibiades, 
xiii.  2.  It  argues  that  Alcibiades  and  not  Phaeax  should  be 
ostracised,  purports  to  be  addressed  to  the  Athenian  people, 
and  involves  throughout  a  complete  misconception  of  the 
nature  and  process  of  ostracism.  It  assumes  a  situation 
which  could  never  have  existed.  See  Jebb,  Attic  Orators,  i. 
p.  137  ;  Meyer,  Gesch,  d.  Alt,,  iv.  p.  492.  Ivo  Bnms  (Das 
Literarische  Portraet  der  Griechen^Y^,  514  ff.)  has  made  it 
seem  probable  that  this  literary  fiction  was  composed  about 
the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  by  some  rhetorical 
sophist,  at  a  time  when  the  relative  merits  and  demerits  of 
Alcibiades  had  become  matter  of  heated  controversy,  and 
when  a  simulated  invective  against  Alcibiades  would  tend 
rather  to  enhance  his  fame. 

Phaeax:  our  earliest  glimpse  of  this  son  of  Erasistratus  is 
given  by  Aristophanes  in  \n&  Knights  (w.  1377-1380),  which 
was  brought  out  in  424. 

'*  Phaeax  is  sharp  —  he  made  a  good  comeK)ff, 
And  saved  his  life  ia  a  famous  knowing  style. 
I  reckon  him  first-rate ;  quite  capital 
For  energy  and  compression ;  so  collected. 
And  such  a  choice  of  language !    Then  to  see  him 
Battling  against  a  mob  —  it 's  quite  delightful  I 
He 's  never  cowed !    He  bothers  *em  completely  "  (Frere). 

The  peculiar  diction  of  the  original  characterizes  Phaeax 
as  a  public  speaker  who  afifected  a  fluent  and  ornamental 
style,  in  a  conversational  manner,  and  so  Plutarch  speaks  of 
him  in  the  Alcibiades,  xiii.  2,  citing  a  verse  of  the  comic 
poet  Eupolis  in  confirmation.  In  422,  Phaeax  was  sent  on  a 
mission  to  Sicily  "  to  warn  the  Sicilians  that  the  Syracusans 
were  aiming  at  supremacy,  and  to  unite  the  allies  of  Athens, 
and  if  possible  the  other  cities,  in  a  war  against  Syracuse  " 
(Thuc,  V.  4,  5-6).  He  met  with  indifferent  success.  This 
is  all  that  is  known  about  him.  He  could  not  have  been  a 
candidate  for  ostracism  himself,  and  yet  he  must  have  been 
prominent  enough  in  the  process  which  resulted  in  the 
ostracism  of  Hyperbolus  to  afford  some  basis  for  the  mistake 


212  NOTES  ON  THE  NICIA8 

of  the  author  of  the  speech  "  Agamst  Alcihiades ".  He 
probably  controUed  the  votes  of  a  coterie  of  the  younger 
members  of  the  aristocratic  party  who  favored  war  rather 
than  peace,  and  particularly  war  in  Sicily,  and  was  induced 
by  Alcibiades  to  throw  these  votes  in  favor  of  the  ostracism 
of  Hyperbolus,  on  the  plea  that  in  this  way  Nicias  would 
not  be  harmed,  and  Alcibiades  would  be  saved.  Thus  agam, 
as  already  in  the  matter  of  the  embassy  from  Sparta  (chap. 
X.),  when  the  political  game  seemed  completely  in  the  hands 
of  Nicias,  the  tables  were  turned  upon  him  by  a  clever  ruse 
of  his  unscrupulous  young  opponent 

Most  writers :  i,  e.  the  source  which  Plutarch  is  usmg, 

probably  Theopompus. 

XII.  1.  An  embassy  from  Bgesta  and  Leontini :   in  the 

spring  of' 415.     As  early  as  the  middle  of  the  century  the 
commercial  relations  of  Athens  with  the  western  Greeks 
were  supplemented  by  closer  political  relations.    In  454-453 
Egesta,  hard  pressed  by  Selinus,  had  sought  help  from  Athens, 
but  that  city  was  then  unable  to  do  more  than  enter  mto 
treaty  relations.    However,  as  the  industrial  and  commercial 
interests  of  the  Athenian  democracy  increased,  covetous  eyes 
were  cast  upon  the  rich  island  of  SicQy,  and  a  poUcy  of  west- 
em  conquest  became  popular.    This  poUcy  was  doubtless 
among  the  reasons  which  led  to  the  alliance  of  Athens  with 
Corcyra  in  433.    The  Athenians  "  considered  that  Corcyra 
was  conveniently  situated  for  the  coast  voyage  to  Italy  and 
Sicily  "  (Thuc,  i  44/7i.).  As  long  as  Pericles  lived,  however, 
this  policy  of  western  conquest  was  held  in  check.    He  "  told 
the  Athenians  that  if  they  would  be  patient  and  would  at- 
tend to  their  navy,  and  not  seek  to  enlarge  their  dominion 
while  the  war  [with  Sparta]  was  going  on,  nor  imperil  the 
existence  of  their  city,  they  would  be  victorious  "  (Thuc,  il 
65,  7).     But  after  his  death  there  was  no  one  who  could 
keep  the  policy  of  western  conquest  from  developing  into  a 
passion,  and  Alcibiades,  his  pupil  and  poHtical  heir,  fanned 
the  passion  into  flame.     In  the  summer  of  427  a  felicitous 
time  for  mtervention  in  the  affairs  of  SicUy  seemed  once 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


213 


more  to  have  come,  and  a  fleet  of  twenty  ships  was  sent 
thither  under  the  command  of  Laches  and  Charoeades. 

The  situation  in  the  island,  according  to  Thucydides  (vL 
2-5),  was  as  follows.  Of  the  earlier  barbarian  peoples  occu- 
pying it,  the  Sicanians  were  in  the  southern  and  western 
parts ;  the  Elymi,  with  their  two  cities  Eryx  and  Egesta,  in 
the  north-western  part;  and  the  Sicels  in  the  central  and 
southern  regions.  The  Phoenicians  at  one  time  had  settle- 
ments all  round  the  island,  but  had  retired  before  the  Hel- 
lenes to  the  western  shore,  at  the  point  where  the  passage 
from  Carthage  is  shortest.  The  first  Hellenic  city  in  the 
island  was  Naxos,  founded  in  735  b.  c.  by  colonists  from 
Chalcis  in  Euboea.  From  Naxos,  two  more  Chalcidic  cities 
were  founded  about  730,  Leontini  and  Catana.  These  three 
cities,  with  Ehegium  of  Italy,  were  usually  friendly  to 
Athens  and  hostile  to  the  Dorian  cities  of  Sicily.  Of  these 
the  chief  were  Syracuse,  founded  from  Corinth  in  734 ;  Gela, 
founded  from  Rhodes  and  Crete  in  690  ;  Agrigentum  (Acra- 
gas),  founded  from  Oela  in  582 ;  and  Selinus,  founded  from 
Megara  in  728-628.  Messene,  originally  called  Xancle, 
and  a  Chalcidian  colony,  was  now  occupied  by  "a  mixed 
multitude  ". 

In  427,  Syracuse  was  at  war  with  Leontini,  and  all  the 
Dorian  cities  but  one  were  in  alliance  with  Syracuse,  all  the 
Chalcidian  cities  with  Leontini  The  Dorian  cities  were  part 
of  the  Lacedaemonian  confederacy,  but  had  taken  no  active 
part  in  the  Peloponnesian  war.  *'  The  Leontines  and  their 
allies  sent  to  Athens,  and  on  the  ground,  partly  of  an  old  al- 
liance [of  which  we  know  nothing],  partly  of  their  Ionian 
descent,  begged  the  Athenians  to  send  them  ships,  for  they 
were  driven  off  both  sea  and  land  by  their  Syracusan  ene- 
mies. The  Athenians  sent  the  ships,  professedly  on  the  ground 
of  relationship,  but  in  reality  because  they  did  not  wish  the 
Peloponnesians  to  obtain  com  from  Sicily.  Moreover  they 
meant  to  try  what  prospect  they  had  of  getting  the  affairs  of 
Sicily  into  their  hands  "  (Thuc,  iiL  86).  In  426,  Charoeades 
was  killed  in  battle,  and  Laches  took  entire  command  of  the 


214 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


expedition  (Thuc,  iii.  90).  Not  succeeding  well,  the  allies 
of  the  Athenians  in  Sicily  called  for  larger  forces  to  aid 
them,  and  in  425  an  additional  fleet  of  forty  ships  was  sent 
out  under  Eurymedon,  Sophocles,  and  Pythodorus  (Thuc,  iv. 
2),  _  the  fleet  with  which  Demosthenes  operated  to  secure 
Pylos.  This  force  also  met  with  indifferent  success  in  Sicily, 
and  on  the  establishment  of  peace  between  the  Sicilian  cities, 
came  home  in  424.  **  When  the  generals  returned  the  Athe- 
nians punished  two  of  them,  Pythodorus  and  Sophocles,  with 
exile,  and  imposed  a  fine  on  the  third,  Eurymedon,  believing 
that  they  might  have  conquered  Sicily  but  had  been  bribed 
to  go  away  "  (Thuc,  iv.  65).  It  was  just  after  the  dazzling 
success  at  Sphacteria,  and  "they  expected  to  accomplish 
everything,  possible  or  impossible,  with  any  force,  great  or 
small ".  But  the  disaster  of  Delium  and  the  loss  of  Amphi- 
polis  in  this  year  had  humbled  them,  and  the  embassy  of 
Phaeax  to  Sicily  in  422,  on  the  renewal  of  war  between 
Syracuse  and  Leontini  and  the  destruction  of  the  latter  city, 
had  been  a  failure  (see  the  note  on  xi.  7). 

In  416,  the  old  hopes  of  conquering  the  island  were  re- 
vived by  a  second  embassy  from  Egesta  requesting  aid  against 
Syracuse  and  Selinus.  The  Athenians  "  virtuously  professed 
that  they  were  going  to  assist  their  own  kinsmen  and  their 
newly  acquired  allies,  but  the  simple  truth  was  that  they  as- 
pired to  the  empire  of  Sicily  **  (Thuc,  vi.  6).  The  chief  argu- 
ment of  the  Egestaeans  was  "  that  if  the  Syracusans  were 
not  punished  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Leontines,  but  were  al- 
lowed to  destroy  the  remaining  allies  of  the  Athenians,  and 
to  get  the  whole  of  Sicily  into  their  own  hands,  they  would 
one  day  come  with  a  great  army,  Dorians  assisting  Dorians, 
who  were  their  kinsmen,  and  colonists  assisting  their  Pelo- 
ponnesian  founders,  and  would  unite  in  overthrowing  Athens 
herself  ".  The  Egestaeans  pressed  their  case  before  the  As- 
sembly of  Athens,  and  promised  to  provide  money  sufficient 
for  the  war.  At  length  the  Assembly  voted  to  send  envoys 
to  ascertain  whether  the  Egestaeans  really  had  the  means 
which  they  professed  to  have,  and  to  report  on  the  state  of 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


216 


the  war  with  Selinus.  The  Athenian  envoys  returned  in  the 
spring  of  415,  accompanied  by  another  embassy  from  Egesta 
with  a  large  sum  of  ready  money.  Both  Athenian  and  Eges- 
taean  envoys  assured  the  people  of  Athens  "  that  there  was 
abundance  of  money  lying  ready  in  the  temples  and  in  the 
treasury  of  Egesta  ". 

It  is  this  last  embassy  from  Egesta  to  which  Plutarch  al- 
ludes in  the  opening  sentence  of  chapter  xiL  The  Leontines 
are  not  mentioned  by  Thucydides  as  actually  forming  part  of 
the  embassy,  but  their  reinstatement  in  their  city  was  to  be 
one  of  the  objects  of  the  expedition,  and  at  the  second  Assem- 
bly to  consider  the  question  "  certain  Leontine  exiles  "  joined 
their  entreaties  with  those  of  the  Egestaeans  (vi.  19).  In  the 
account  of  Diodorus  (Ephorus),  xiL  83,  2,  they  are  joint  am- 
bassadors with  the  Egestaeans. 

Drawinar  maps  of  Sioily :  the  imaginative  picture  which 
Plutarch  gives  of  the  infatuation  of  the  Athenians  is  fully 
justified  by  Thucydides,  vi  24. 

XIL  2.  A  mere  bcuse  of  operations:  in  his  speech  at 
Sparta,  after  his  condemnation  and  banishment,  Alcibiades 
says  (Thuc,  vL  90),  **  We  sailed  to  Sicily  hoping  in  the  first 
place  to  conquer  the  Sicilian  cities ;  then  to  proceed  against 
the  Hellenes  of  Italy ;  and  lastly,  to  make  an  attempt  on  the 
Carthaginian  dominions,  and  on  Carthage  itself." 

XII.  3.  Voted  for  the  war,  etc. :  "they  passed  a  vote  that 
sixty  ships  should  be  sent  to  Sicily ;  Alcibiades  the  son  of 
Qeinias,  Nicias  the  son  of  Niceratus,  and  Lamachus  the  son 
of  Xenophanes  were  appointed  commanders.  They  were  told 
to  assist  Egesta  against  Selinus ;  if  this  did  not  demand  all 
their  military  strength  they  were  empowered  to  restore  the 
Leontines,  and  generally  to  further  in  such  manner  as  they 
deemed  best  the  Athenian  interest  in  Sicily"  (Thuc.,vi.  8,2). 
Apparently  the  three  generals  had  an  equal  vote  in  a  council 
of  war  (Thuc.,  vi.  47-60). 

A  second  session  of  the  Assembly :  "  five  days  afterwards 
another  assembly  was  called  to  consider  what  steps  should 
be  taken  for  the  immediate  equipment  of  the  expedition,  and 


216 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIA8 


to  vote  any  additional  supplies  which  the  generals  might  re- 
quire.    Nicias,  who  had  been  appointed  general  against  his 
will,  thought  that  the  people  had  come  to  a  wrong  conclu- 
sion, and  that  upon  slight  and  flimsy  grounds  they  were  as- 
piring to  the  conquest  of  Sicily,  which  was  no  easy  task.   So, 
being  desirous  of  diverting  the  Athenians  from  their  purpose, 
he  came  forward  and  admonished  them  "  (Thuc,  vi  8,  3-4). 
In  the  foUowing  chapters  (9-14),  Thucydides  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  Nicias  a  speech  in  which  all  the  arguments  against 
such  an  expedition  to  Sicily  are  massed  in  the  most  dignified 
and  effective  manner.     It  contains  this  scathing  allusion  to 
Alcibiades  (chap.  12,  2) :  "  I  dare  say  there  may  be  some 
young  man  here  who  is  delighted  at  holding  a  command,  and 
the  more  so  because  he  is  too  young  for  his  post ;  and  he,  re- 
garding only  his  own  interest,  may  recommend  you  to  sail ; 
he  may  be  one  who  is  much  admired  for  his  stud  of  horses, 
and  wants  to  make  something  out  of  his  command  which 
will  maintain  him  in  his  extravagance." 

In  chapters  15-18,  Thucydides  first  gives  a  lively  pen- 
portrait  of  Alcibiades,  and  then  puts  into  his  mouth  a  speech 
in  reply  to  Nicias  which  defends  his  ostentatious  life  and 
his  daring  projects  with  all  the  grace  of  sophistry.  Both 
speeches,  that  of  Nicias  and  that  of  Alcibiades,  are  character- 
speeches,  in  the  best  manner  of  Thucydides,  and  present 
vividly  the  sentiments  actuating  the  two  parties  in  conflict 
with  each  other,  —  the  old  men  who  wanted  peace,  and  the 
young  men  who  wanted  war. 

XII.  4.  The  experience  from  which  he  spoke :  this  is 
shown  especially  in  a  second  speech  put  into  the  mouth  of 
Nicias  by  Thucydides,  not  replying  to  Alcibiades,  but,  seeing 
that  the  people  were  resolved  upon  the  war,  insisting  on  the 
difficulties  of  the  undertaking  and  the  magnitude  of  the  forces 
which  would  be  required  (Thuc,  vl  20-23).  "He  meant 
either  to  deter  the  Athenians  by  bringing  home  to  them  the 
vastness  of  the  undertaking,  or  to  provide  as  far  as  he  could 
for  the  safety  of  the  expedition  if  he  were  compeUed  to  pro- 
ceed.    The  result  disappointed  him.    Far  from  losing  their 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


217 


enthusiasm  at  the  disagreeable  prospect,  they  were  more  de- 
termined than  ever ;  they  approved  of  his  advice,  and  were 
confident  that  every  chance  of  danger  was  now  removed.  All 
alike  were  seized  with  a  passionate  desire  to  sail "  (Thuc, 
vi  24, 1-3). 

Roughness  of  Lamachus :  correcting  the  irpcuhrjra  (mild- 
ness) of  the  text  to  6pa<TVTr)Ta,  or  some  equivalent  word,  as 
would  seem  to  be  demanded  by  the  epithets  applied  to  Lam- 
achus in  the  Alcibiades,  xviiL  and  xxL,  and  in  the  Acham- 
tans  of  Aristophanes,  passim. 

Lamachus  had  accompanied  Pericles  on  his  Pontic  expedi- 
tion as  early  as  436  (?),  as  is  seen  from  Plutarch's  Pericles, 
xxL  1.  He  also  commanded  independently  another  Pontic 
expedition  in  424,  clearly  in  consequence  of  his  experience 
with  Pericles  (Thuc,  iv.  75,  1).  In  the  Acharnians  of 
Aristophanes,  brought  out  in  425,  he  is  the  comic  repre- 
sentative of  the  blustering  "Jingo".  But  he  was  made 
one  of  the  commanders  of  the  Sicilian  expedition  because 
of  his  practical  military  experience  and  great  ability.  He 
advocated  an  immediate  attack  upon  Syracuse  (Thuc,  vi.  49), 
which  would  in  all  probability  have  been  successful.  His 
untimely  death  in  battle  was  the  severest  of  many  severe 
blows  to  the  Athenian  cause.  In  the  Frogs,  brought  out  in 
405,  Aristophanes  pays  his  memory  an  honorable  amend  for 
the  lampoons  of  the  Acharnians,  — "  But  others,  many  and 
brave,  he  taught,  of  whom  was  Lamachus,  hero  true  "  (verse 
1039,  Rogers'  translation). 

Demostratus :  in  Thucydides  (vL  25-26),  "  an  Athenian 
came  forward,  and  calling  upon  Nicias,  said  that  they  would 
have  no  more  excuses  and  delays;  he  must  speak  out  and 
say  what  forces  the  people  were  to  vote  him."  Nicias  there- 
upon gave  the  magnificent  estimate  of  one  himdred  triremes 
of  their  own  and  more  from  their  allies ;  not  less  than  five 
thousand  he^vy-armed  troops,  "  and  more  if  they  could  pos- 
sibly have  them " ;  and  the  rest  of  the  armament  in  propor- 
tion, including  archers  and  slingers.  He  thought  to  deter 
his  hearers  from  their  project  by  the  magnitude  of  his  esti- 


i 


218 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


mates.  But  '*  the  Athenians  at  once  decreed  that  the  gen- 
erals should  be  empowered  to  act  as  they  thought  best  in  the 
interest  of  the  state  respecting  the  numbers  of  the  army  and 
the  whole  management  of  the  expedition." 

To  this  decree  Plutarch  doubtless  had  access,  directly  or 
indirectly,  in  the  collection  of  Craterus  (Introd.,  p.  35),  and 
took  from  it  the  name  of  the  mover.  That  the  name  is 
correct  is  made  probable  by  the  passage  from  Aristophanes 
cited  in  the  note  on  xiiL  7,  where  Demostratus  is  the  mover 
of  other  decrees  relating  to  the  expedition. 

XIII.  1.  Is  said:  that  much  of  the  material  in  this  chap- 
ter is  derived,  ultimately  at  least,  from  Cleitodemus  (Introd., 
p.  34),  is  clear  from  Pausanias,  x.  15,  4-5.  Describing  the 
votive  offerings  at  Delphi,  he  says :  "  The  bronze  palm-tree 
and  the  gilt  image  of  Athena  on  it  were  dedicated  by  the 
Athenians  out  of  the  spoils  of  the  two  battles  —  the  battle 
on  land  and  the  naval  battle  on  the  river  —  which  they  won 
on  the  same  day  at  the  Eurymedon.  I  observed  that  in  some 
places  the  gilding  on  the  image  was  damaged.  I  laid  the 
blame  on  evil-doers  and  thieves.  But  Cleitodemus,  the  old- 
est of  all  the  writers  who  have  described  Attica,  says  in  his 
work  on  Attica,  that  when  the  Athenians  were  fitting  out 
their  armament  to  attack  Sicily,  an  innumerable  flock  of 
crows  flew  to  Delphi,  pecked  this  image,  and  tore  the  gold 
off  it  with  their  beaks.  He  says,  too,  that  they  broke  off  the 
spear  and  the  owls  and  the  mimic  fruit  on  the  palm.  He 
also  describes  other  omens  which  warned  the  Athenians  not 
to  sail  for  Sicily."  Judging  from  chap.  L  3  of  the  Nicias,  it 
was  Timaeus  who  collected  this  and  other  material  which 
Plutarch  uses  here. 

Sundry  oracles :  when  the  war  began,  "  many  were  the 
prophecies  circulated  and  many  the  oracles  chanted  by  divin- 
ers, not  only  in  the  cities  about  to  engage  in  the  struggle,  but 
throughout  Hellas  "  (Thuc,  ii.  8,  2).  And  after  the  expedi- 
tion to  Sicily  had  met  with  destruction,  the  Athenians  "  were 
furious  with  the  orators  who  had  joined  in  promoting  the  ex- 
pedition, and  with  the  soothsayers,  and  prophets,  and  all  who 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


219 


by  the  influence  of  religion  had  at  that  time  inspired  them 
with  the  belief  that  they  would  conquer  Sicily  "  (Thuc.,  viii 

1,1). 

The  shrine  of  Ammon:  in  an  oasis  of  the  Libyan  desert. 
CJroesus  consulted  this  oracle  among  many  others  (Herod.,  L 
46) ;  it  was  consulted  by  the  Lacedaemonians  more  frequently 
than  by  the  rest  of  the  Greeks  (Pans.,  iiL  18,  2) ;  Cimon,  who 
was  of  known  Laconian  sympathies,  sent  envoys  to  it  just 
before  his  death  (Plutarch,  Cimon,  xviiL  6) ;  and  the  visit  of 
Alexander  the  Great  to  the  oracle  is  well  known. 

Would  capture  cJl  the  Ssrracusans:  for  the  supposed  ful- 
fillment of  this  prophecy,  see  chap.  xiv.  5  f.  Another  decep- 
tive oracle  is  given  by  Pausanias  (viii  11, 12) :  "  Again,  the 
Athenians  received  an  oracle  from  Dodona  bidding  them 
to  colonize  Sicily;  now  this  Sicily  is  a  small  hill  not  far 
from  Athens.  But  they,  not  understanding  the  meaning, 
were  lured  into  foreign  campaigns." 

XllI.  2.  Mutilation  of  the  Hermae :  quadrangular  pil- 
lars of  marble,  about  the  height  of  the  human  figure,  sur- 
mounted by  an  archaic  bust  of  the  god  Hermes,  and  with 
the  significant  mark  of  the  male  sex  in  front,  stood  "  every- 
where at  the  doorways  both  of  temples  and  private  houses  " 
in  Athens,  according  to  Thucydides  (vL  27, 1).  They  stood 
also  near  the  most  frequented  porticoes,  at  the  intersection  of 
cross-ways,  and  in  the  public  agora.  **  They  were  thus  pres- 
ent to  the  eye  of  every  Athenian  in  all  his  acts  of  intercom- 
munion, either  for  business  or  pleasure,  with  his  fellow 
citizens.  The  religious  feeling  of  the  Greeks  considered  the 
god  to  be  planted  or  domiciliated  where  his  statue  stood, 
so  that  the  companionship,  sympathy,  and  guardianship  of 
Hermes,  became  associated  with  most  of  the  manifestations 
of  conjunct  life  at  Athens,  political,  social,  commercial,  or 
gymnastic  "  (Grote,  Hist  of  Greece,  vi.  pp.  4  t ). 

In  the  Alcibiades,  xviii  3,  Plutarch  notes  the  report  that 
the  Corinthians  were  at  the  bottom  of  the  sacrilege,  in  the 
hope  of  stopping  the  expedition  against  Syracuse,  their  col- 
ony.   This  explanation  of  the  outrage  came  from  Philochorus 


I' 


I 

Vv 


1:^ 


220 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


(schol.  on  Aristophanes,  Lysist,  1094),  and  is  adopted  by 
Wilamowitz  (Aristoteles  und  Athen,  ii.  p.  113),  who  is  fol- 
lowed by  Bury  (Eist  of  Greece,  p.  469).  Many  at  the  time 
thought  that  the  outrage  was  merely  the  wanton  work  of  young 
men  flown  with  wine  (Alcibiades,  xviii.  4),  and  many  are  of 
that  opinion  to-day  (Meyer,  Gesch,  d.  Alt,  iv.  p.  503).  But 
more  held  it  to  be  "  ominous  of  the  fate  of  the  expedition  ", 
the  work  of  "  conspirators  who  wanted  to  effect  a  revolution 
and  to  overthrow  the  democracy  "  (Thuc,  vi  27).  Which- 
ever view  is  correct, "  no  one  knew  at  the  time,  or  to  this 
day  knows,  who  the  offenders  were  "  (Thuc,  vi  60,  2),  and 
this  seems  to  deny  more  than  a  mere  knowledge  of  the  names 
of  the  offenders. 

Andocides :  see  the  Introd.,  pp.  42  ff.,  as  well  as  the  Aid- 
biades,  xxL,  and  notes. 

The  altar  of  the  Twelve  Gk>d8 :  this  was  in  the  agora,  and 
was  dedicated  by  Peisistratus  the  Younger,  a  grandson  of  the 
Tyrant,  during  his  archonship  (Thua,  vi  54,  6),  sometime 
between  523  and  515  b.c.  From  it  the  Athenians  reckoned 
all  distances  in  Greece,  as  the  Komans  from  the  mUiarium 
aureum, 

XIII.  3.  A  Palladium :  see  on  iii.  3. 
XIII.  4.  Seek  peace:  it  is  impossible  to  reproduce  per- 
fectly in  English  the  play  on  words  here.   They  were  bidden 
Tr)v  iipeiav  ayetv,  to  fetch  the  priestess;  they  were  meant 
T^v  rfo-vxiav  (Htrvxuiv)  ayeiv,  to  keep  the  peace  (Peace). 

XIII.  5.  The  astrologer  Meton:  the  most  famous  math- 
ematician and  astronomer  of  his  time.  In  432,  he  published 
a  new  calendar  with  a  cycle  of  nineteen  years,  intended  to 
reconcile  the  lunar  and  the  solar  years.  It  was  not  adopted, 
however,  until  a  century  later.  His  wisdom  and  fame  are 
attested  by  Aristophanes  in  the  Birds,  w.  998  ff.  The  first 
version  of  the  story  about  his  attitude  towards  the  Sicilian 
expedition  is  found  with  greater  detaU  in  Aelian,  Varia 
Historia,  xiii  12.  In  this,  he  feigns  madness  to  save  him- 
self. The  variant  version  remarked  by  Plutarch  makes  him 
commit  arson  to  save  his  son. 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


221 


XIII.  6.  Socrates:  the  story  bears  all  the  marks  of  infer- 
ential  invention.  The  «  divine  guide  "  never  gave  Socrates 
positive  information  or  instruction,  but  simply  withheld  him 
from  certain  courses  of  action. 

XIII.  7.  The  festival  of  Adonis :  in  mid-summer,  when 
the  first  fruits  ripen,  this  beloved  husband  of  Aphrodite  was 
believed  to  wither  away  and  die,  but  to  be  restored  to  her  in 
the  following  spring.  He  was,  then,  ''  a  type  of  vegetation, 
which  after  a  brief  blossoming,  always  dies  again."  With  the 
little  images  of  the  god,  the  "  gardens  of  Adonis "  —  pots 
holding  all  kinds  of  herbs  that  come  out  quickly  and  as 
quickly  fade,  were  finally  committed  to  the  water.  A  splen- 
did celebration  of  the  festival  at  the  court  of  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus  in  Alexandria  is  commemorated  in  the  famous 
fifteenth  Idyll  of  Theocritus. 

Thucydides  says  that  the  expedition  sailed  about  the  mid- 
dle of  summer  (vi  30, 1),  and  a  passage  in  the  Lysistrata  of 
Aristophanes  (w.  387  ff.)  represents  the  demagogue  Demos- 
tratus  as  pushing  sundry  motions  for  the  equipment  and  sail- 
ing of  the  expedition  through  the  Assembly,  while  the  cries 
of  women  on  the  house-tops  could  be  heard  lamenting 
Adonis.  Still,  in  spite  of  all  adverse  omens  and  anxious 
fears,  the  great  armament  left  the  Piraeus  with  a  confidence 
and  an  enthusiasm  to  which  Thucydides  (vi  30-34)  bears 
the  most  eloquent  testimony.  **  Never  had  a  greater  expe- 
dition been  sent  to  a  foreign  land ;  never  was  there  an  enter- 
prise in  which  the  hope  of  future  success  seemed  to  be  better 
justified  by  actual  power." 

XIV.  2.  (Hzine  back  homewards,  etc. :  there  is  nothing 
of  this  detail  in  Thucydides,  but  it  is  natural  inference  from 
the  situation  and  the  man.  The  Athenians  and  their  allies 
collected  at  Corcyra,  and  crossed  in  three  squadrons  to  Rhe- 
gium  in  Italy.  There  were  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  tri- 
remes in  all,  besides  two  fifty-oared  Rhodian  vessels,  and  one 
horse  transport,  and  they  conveyed  fifty-one  hundred  hop- 
lites,  four  hundred  and  eighty  archers,  seven  himdred  sling- 
ers,  one  hundred  and  twenty  light-armed  troops,  and  thirty 


! 


.^i 


);•! 


11- 


222 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


horsemen.  The  crews  of  the  triremes  must  have  numbered 
at  least  twenty-five  thousand.  One  hundred  and  thirty  mer- 
chant ships  and  smaller  vessels  conveyed  provisions,  bakers, 
masons,  carpenters,  and  si^e-tools. 

Ehegium  would  not  receive  them  within  its  walls,  but  al- 
lowed them  to  encamp  on  the  shore,  and  furnished  them 
with  a  market  Here  the  ships  sent  on  in  advance  to  pre- 
pare the  way  reported  that  the  Egestaeans  had  only  a  trifling 
sum  of  money  with  which  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  war 
in  their  behalf,  as  they  had  deceitfully  promised  to  do.  This 
disappointment,  together  with  the  unexpected  conduct  of  the 
Ehegians,  on  whose  alliance  they  had  counted,  cooled  the 
spirits  of  commanders  and  men.  The  generals  then  held  a 
council  of  war  (Thuc,  vi.  42-46). 

XIY.  3.  Lamaohus  .  .  •  Alcibiades  .  .  .  Nioias:  Thucyd- 
ides  gives  the  opinions  of  the  three  generals  in  full,  but  in 
reverse  order  (vi  47-49).  Plutarch  gives  the  merest  gist  of 
the  opinions.  Lamachus,  after  urging  a  course  of  action 
which,  had  it  been  adopted,  would  in  all  probability  have  re- 
sulted in  the  capture  of  Syracuse,  gave  his  vote  for  the  pro- 
posals of  Alcibiades,  and  a  war  of  diplomacy  was  at  once 
begun.  Messene  refused,  and  Naxos  accepted  alliance ;  the 
city  and  harbor  of  Syracuse  were  reconnoitered ;  Catana  was 
seized  and  made  headquarters  for  operations  against  Syra- 
cuse. From  Catana  Alcibiades  was  summoned  home  (about 
September,  415). 

XIV.  4.  To  stand  his  trial :  even  before  his  departure  **  a 
party  who  were  jealous  of  his  influence  over  the  people  .... 
took  up  and  exaggerated  the  charges  against  him,  clamor- 
ously insisting  that  both  the  mutilation  of  the  Hermae  and 
the  profanation  of  the  mysteries  [see  the  Alcibiades^  xix.- 
xxi.]  were  part  of  a  conspiracy  against  the  democracy,  and 
that  he  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  whole  affair "  (Thuc,  vi. 
28  fin.),  Alcibiades  had  insisted  in  vain  upon  an  immediate 
triaL  His  enemies  succeeded  in  persuading  the  people  to 
vote  **  that  he  should  sail  now  and  not  delay  the  expedition, 
but  should  return  and  stand  his  trial  within  a  certain  num- 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


223 


ber  of  days.  Their  intention  was  that  he  should  be  recalled 
and  tried  when  they  had  stirred  up  a  stronger  feeling  against 
him,  which  they  could  do  better  in  his  absence  "  (Thuc,  vL 
29  fin.).  Now,  "  from  every  quarter  suspicion  had  gathered 
around  Alcibiades,  and  the  Athenian  people  were  determined 
to  have  him  tried  and  executed ;  so  they  sent  the  ship  Sal- 
aminia  to  Sicily  bearing  a  summons  to  him  and  to  others 
against  whom  information  had  been  given.  He  was  ordered 
to  follow  the  ofl&cers  home  and  defend  himself  "  (Thuc,  vi. 
61,  4  f.). 

Nioiaa  wielded  sole  power :  "  The  two  Athenian  generab 
who  remained  in  Sicily  now  divided  the  fleet  between  them 
by  lot,  and  sailed  towards  Selinus  and  Egesta  "  (Thuc,  vL 
62, 1).  This  was  in  accordance  with  the  policy  of  Nicias 
(see  §  3),  and  shows  that  Lamachus  could  not  prevail  against 
him. 

The  hox>es  of  his  men:  reading  aur&v,  with  the  Sintenis 
(Teubner)  text.  The  Bekker  (Tauchnitz)  text  has  airr^, 
"  his  hopes  ". 

XIY.  5.  Made  proolamation,  etc. :  "  On  their  approach- 
ing the  city  a  herald  was  to  proclaim  from  the  decks  that 
the  Athenians  had  come  to  restore  their  allies  and  kinsmen 
the  Leontines  to  their  homes,  and  that  therefore  any  Leon- 
tines  who  were  in  Syracuse  should  regard  the  Athenians  as 
their  friends  and  benefactors,  and  join  them  without  fear. 
When  the  proclamation  had  been  made,  and  the  fleet  had 
taken  a  survey  of  the  city,  and  harbours,  and  of  the  ground 
which  was  to  be  the  scene  of  operations,  they  sailed  back  to 
Catana  "  (Thuc,  vL  50,  4  f .). 

In  422,  there  had  been  a  political  revolution  in  Leontini. 
The  oligarchs  had  driven  out  the  democrats,  with  the  aid  of 
the  Syracusans,  and  had  then  deserted  the  city,  and  settled 
in  Syracuse  as  citizens.  A  few  of  them  afterwards  became 
discontented,  left  Syracuse,  and  occupied  strongholds  in  the 
Leontine  territory.  "  Here  they  were  joined  by  most  of  the 
common  people  who  had  been  previously  driven  out,  and 
from  their  strongholds  they  carried  on  a  continual  warfare 


^  % 


^ 


a 


i 


n 


224 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


against  Syracuse  "  (Thuc,  v.  4,  4).  The  Athenian  proclama- 
tion, therefore,  must  have  been  made  for  effect  upon  the 
Leontine  oligarchs  still  in  Syracuse. 

Captured  a  ship  with  tablets:  there  is  nothing  of  this  in 
Thucydides.  The  item  probably  comes  from  Philistus  (In- 
trod.,  pp.  10,  31),  an  eyewitness  perhaps  of  the  event. 

XIV.  6.  The  oracle:  see  xiiL  1. 

They  say:  this  is  in  all  probability  the  fanciful  comment 
of  Timaeus  (Introd.,  p.  34),  as  is  clear  from  the  date  (353 
B.C.),  of  the  event  in  which  he  finds  the  oracle  fulfilled. 
Dion  the  Syracusan,  a  friend  and  son-in-law  of  the  tyrant 
Dionysius  I.,  was  banished  by  Dionysius  II.,  and  took  up 
residence  in  Athens.  He  returned  to  Sicily  in  357  and  ex- 
pelled Dionysius  from  Syracuse.  Here  he  soon  roused  hos- 
tility by  his  harsh  measures,  and  was  slain  by  conspirators 
instigated  by  Callippus,  an  Athenian  friend  who  had  accom- 
panied  him  from  Greece.     See  Plutarch's  Dion,  liv.-lviL 

In  another  circumstanoe :  reading  erepy,  with  the  Bekker 
(Tauchnitz)  text  and  the  MSS ;  the  Sintenis  (Teubner)  text 
adopts  the  conjecture  hepoi  of  Keiske,  "  others  say  ",  etc. 
XV.  1.  Alcibiades  sailed  away :  see  the  Alcibiades,  xxL 

1,  and  note. 

Nioias  took  entire  command:  not  officially,  but  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact.    See  the  note  on  xiv.  4. 

Lamachus:  see  the  note  on  xii  4.  The  details  of  his 
pettiness  here  given  may  well  have  come  primarily  from  the 
jibes  of  contemporary  comedy.  "  And  as  for  Lamachus,  he 
always  put  down  in  his  bill  of  charges,  when  he  was  general, 
the  money  laid  out  for  his  shoes  and  coat "  (Plutarch,  Fraec. 
reip.  ger,,  31  =  Morals,  p.  822  E). 

XV.  2.  It  is  said,  etc.:  neither  source  nor  authenticity  of 
the  following  anecdote  can  be  determined.  We  have  no 
good  evidence  that  Sophocles  the  poet  was  ever  general  ex- 
cept with  Pericles  in  the  Samian  war  (440-439).  He  was 
not  too  young  a  man  then  to  give  point  to  such  an  anecdote 
as  this,  and  Nicias  was  young  enough,  if  his  serving  as  a  col- 
league of  Pericles  (see  the  note  on  ii.  2)  could  possibly  be  re- 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


225 


ferred  to  this  same  Samian  war.    All  the  possibilities  of  the 
case  are  discussed  by  Busolt,  Griech,  Gesch.,  iii.  p.  576,  note. 

XV.  3  f .  The  events  briefly,  and  rather  imfairly,  summar- 
ized in  these  paragraphs  are  given  in  full  detail  by  Thucyd- 
ides in  vL  62.  In  the  following  chapter,  however,  wishing 
to  give  the  impression  produced  upon  the  Syracusans  by  the 
Athenian  campaign,  he  says:  "when  they  found  that  their 
enemies  did  not  assail  them  at  once,  as  in  their  first  panic 
they  had  expected,  day  by  day  their  spirits  rose.  And  now 
the  Athenians,  after  cruising  about  at  the  other  end  of  Sicily, 
where  they  seemed  to  be  a  long  way  off,  had  gone  to  Hybla, 
and  their  attack  upon  it  had  failed.  So  the  Syracusans  de- 
spised them  more  than  ever  "  (vi.  63, 1  f.).  It  is  this  resump- 
tive sentence  of  Thucydides  which  has  most  influenced 
Plutarch's  account.  The  operations  of  the  expedition  were 
really  not  wholly  insignificant.  On  the  way  towards  Egesta 
and  Selinus,  whose  war  with  each  other  had  been  the  osten- 
sible cause  of  the  expedition,  they  touched  at  Himera,  a  Hel- 
lenic city  which  refused  to  receive  them,  and  took  Hyccara, 
a  city  of  the  Sicanians  which  was  hostile  to  the  Egestaeans, 
reducing  its  inhabitants  to  slavery.  Then,  dividing  their 
forces,  the  ships  sailed  round  the  island  (in  accordance  with 
the  plan  of  Nicias,  Thuc.,  vi  47),  conveying  the  prisoners 
and  reconnoitering  Selinus,  back  to  Catcma,  on  the  eastern 
coast  above  Syracuse;  while  the  troops  (probably  under 
Lamachus)  marched  back  thither  through  the  interior  of 
the  island,  where  they  counted  on  finding  the  Sicels  will- 
ing allies.  Nicias  himself  sailed  in  advance  from  Hyccara 
to  Egesta,  obtained  there  a  meager  thirty  talents,  and  rejoined 
his  fleet.  At  Catana,  the  sale  of  the  captives  brought  in  one 
hundred  and  twenty  talents.  From  Catana  the  Sicels  were 
again  visited  and  asked  for  reenforcements,  while  with  half 
the  army  Hybla,  a  small  city  a  few  miles  west  of  Catana,  was 
attacked,  but  not  taken. 

XV.  4.  It  is  said:  by  Timaeus  (Introd.,  p.  34),  as  is  plain 
from  Athenaeus,  p.  589  a.  According  to  the  scholiast  on 
Aristophanes,  Huttis,  179,  Lais  was  seven  years  of  age,  and  was 


226 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


bought  by  a  Corinthian  and  sent  as  a  present  to  his  wife  at 
Corinth.  On  the  road  from  Cenchreae  to  Corinth  Pausanias 
saw  her  tomb,  «  which  is  surmounted  by  a  lioness  holding  a 
ram  in  her  fore-paws.  There  is  another  tomb  in  Thessaly 
which  claims  to  be  the  tomb  of  Lais ;  for  she  went  to  Thessaly, 
too,  for  love  of  Hippostratus.  It  is  said  that  she  was  a  native 
of  Hycara  in  Sicily,  that  she  was  captured  as  a  child  by  the 
Athenians  under  Nicias,  and  that  being  sold  to  a  Corinthian 
purchaser  she  surpassed  in  beauty  all  the  courtesans  of  the 
age,  and  was  so  much  admired  by  the  Corinthians  that  they 
still  claim  her  as  a  native  of  Corinth  "  (iL  2,  4). 

If  some  of  the  most  romantic  incidents  connected  with  the 
death  of  Alcibiades  could  be  believed,  we  might  assume  that 
Timandra  (or  Damasandra),  the  mother  of  Lais,  was  captured 
with  her  at  Hy ccara  (Plutarch,  A  Icibiades,  xxxix.  4).  Learned 
men  have  been  much  interested  in  the  story  of  the  beautiful 
Lais,  as  may  be  seen  in  Freeman's  History  of  Sicily,  iiL 
pp.  157  f.,  and  Note  x.,  pp.  650  fif. 

XVI.  1.  The  summer  was  spent,  etc.:  **  Eariy  in  the 
ensuing  winter  the  Athenians  made  preparations  for  an  at- 
tack upon  Syracuse;  the  Syracusans  likewise  prepared  to 
take  the  offensive.  .  .  .  Syracusan  horsemen,  who  were  al- 
ways riding  up  to  the  Athenian  army  and  watching  their 
movements,  would  ask  insultingly  whether,  instead  of  reset- 
tling the  Leontines  in  their  old  home,  they  were  not  them- 
selves going  to  settle  down  with  their  good  friends  the 
S^Tacusans  in  a  new  one  '*  (Thuc,  vi.  63). 

XVI.  2.  He  secretly  sent:  this  is  natural  individual- 
ization in  the  biographical  narrative.  In  Thucydides  (vL  64) 
it  is  "  the  Athenians "  and  "  the  generals "  who  are  aware 
of  the  purpose  of  the  Syracusans,  and  concoct  the  plan  to 
decoy  them  out  of  their  city.  Otherwise  the  paragraph  is 
a  good  condensation  of  the  historian's  long  chapter. 

XVI.  3.  This  paragraph  is  a  brief  summary  of  Thucyd- 
ides, vi.  65,  without,  however,  any  of  the  interestmg  military 
details.  It  was  at  dawn  of  day  that  the  Athenian  forces 
disembarked  "  opposite  the  temple  of  Olympian  Zeus ",  on 


NOTES   ON  THE  NICIAS 


227 


the  western  shore  of  the  great  harbor,  south  of  the  river 
Anapus.  At  this  very  time  the  Syracusan  horse,  advanc- 
ing before  their  main  army  to  Catana,  "discovered  that 
the  whole  Athenian  army  had  put  out  to  sea,  whereupon 
they  returned  and  told  the  infantry ;  and  then  all  together 
hurried  back  to  protect  the  city." 

The  enemy's  harbors:  Syracuse  had  two  harbors,  the 
lesser  harbor,  on  the  north  of  the  island  Ortygia  (the  site 
of  the  most  ancient  part  of  the  city);  and  the  Great 
Harbor,  on  the  south.  The  latter  was  a  spacious  bay  of 
about  five  miles  in  circumference.  Its  entrance,  between 
the  island  Ortygia  and  the  headland  Plemm)nium,was  about 
twelve  hundred  yards  wide.  The  lesser  harbor  plays  no  par- 
ticular part  in  the  story  of  the  Athenian  operations. 

XVI.  4.  Led  swiftly  affainst  them :  Plutarch  has  been 
misled  by  the  opening  sentence  of  Thucydides,  vL  69,  which 
describes  the  opening  of  a  battle  on  the  day  following  the 
return  of  the  Syracusan  forces  from  Catana.  The  distance 
from  Catana  to  Syracuse  was  considerable,  and  a  day  was 
occupied  by  the  Syracusans  in  returning  and  by  the  Athe- 
nians in  fortifying  themselves.  When  the  Syracusans  at  last 
got  back,  they  marched  up  to  the  Athenian  position  and  of- 
fered battle,  but  the  offer  was  not  accepted,  "  so  they  retired 
and  encamped  on  the  other  side  of  the  Helorine  road  "  (Thuc., 
vi  66).  On  the  following  day  the  battle  took  place,  as  de- 
scribed at  great  length  and  with  minute  detail  by  Thucydides 
in  VL  67-70.  The  S3rracusans  were  surprised  after  all  by  the 
suddenness  of  the  Athenian  attack,  but  made  a  stubborn  re- 
sistance. They  were  put  to  flight,  but  were  not  pursued  far, 
since  their  cavalry  interposed  successfully.  They  re-formed 
after  their  defeat,  and  sent  some  of  their  forces  to  guard  the 
Olympieimi.  The  rest  of  them  returned  to  the  city.  "  The 
Athenians,  however,  did  not  go  to  the  temple  at  all,  but  col- 
lecting their  dead,  and  laying  them  on  a  pyre,  they  passed 
the  night  where  they  were  "  (Thuc,  vi  71, 1). 

Did  not  slay  many :  **  There  had  fallen  of  the  Syracusans 
and   their  allies  about   two  hundred  and   sixty;    of  the 


'  4 


228  NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 

Athenians  and  their  allies  not  more  than  fifty"  (Thuc.. 

*  Destroying  the  bridges:  there  waa  but  one,  and  that  had 
been  destroyed  by  the  Athenians  on  the  previous  day,  as  part 
of  their  measures  of  defense  (Thuc.,  vi.  66,  2). 

Gave  Hermoorates  occasion  to  say,  etc. :  doubtless  an 
authentic  item  from  PhUistus  (Introd.  p.  10),  but  pertinent 
to  the  previous  day,  when  the  Athenians  kept  dose  behmd 
their  intrenchments  and  declined  battle. 

XVI  5.  This  paragraph,  too,  is  out  of  place.  It  was  not 
till  after  the  Athenians  had  saUed  back  to  Catana,  on  the  day 
after  the  battle,  that  the  Syracusans  called  an  assembly,  and 
on  the  advice  of  Hermocrates  substituted  three  generals  with 
full  powers  for  the  fifteen  they  had  had  before.  «  The  division 
of  authority  had  produced  disorganization  and  disorder  among 

the  troops  "  (Thuc,  vi  72  f.). 

XVI  6  This  paragraph  is  an  enlargement  and  distortion 
(probably 'by  Timaeus,  Introd.  p.  33).  of  the  simple  facts 
given  by  Thucydides  in  vi  70>. ;  71, 1  (cited  above  on  §  4). 
The  Athenians  had  had  ample  opportunity  to  seize  the  Olym- 
pieum  on  the  day  before,  if  they  desired  to  do  so. 

XVI  7  After  a  few  days:  on  the  day  after  the  battle, 
according  to  Thucydides  (vi.  71,  1),  the  Athenians  « took 
with  them  the  spoils  of  their  enemies  and  sailed  back  to 
Catana  ".  Winter  had  set  in.  they  lacked  horsemen,  money, 
and  food,  and  therefore  decided  to  go  into  winter  quarters 
and  prepare  for  an  attack  upon  Syracuse  in  the  spring. 
"Accordingly  they  sailed  away  to  Naxos  and  Catana.  m- 

tending  to  winter." 

Spent  the  winter:  after  an  unsuccessful  attempt  on  Mes- 
sene  the  Athenians  went  to  Naxos. "  and  having  surrounded 
their  camp  with  a  palisade,  proposed  to  pass  the  wmter  there. 
They  also  despatched  a  trireme  to  Athens  for  money  and  cav- 
alry, which  were  to  arrive  at  the  beginning  of  spring"  (Thua, 

vi  74).  ...        ^  .      .^ 

Burnt  the  Athenian  camp:  after  fortifying  their  city 
and  the  Olympieum,  knowing  that  the  Athenians  were  win- 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


229 


tering  at  Nazos,  the  Syracusans  "  marched  with  their  whole 
army  to  Catana,  ravaged  the  country  and  burnt  the  huts  and 
camp  of  the  Athenians  ".  They  then  took  measures  to  coim- 
teract  the  Athenian  attempts  to  win  over  Camarina  to  their 
side  (Thuc,  vi  75). 

XVI.  8.  This  criticism  of  Nicias  is  discriminatine  and 
fair.  There  is,  however,  little  doubt  that  he  acted  wisely  in 
retiring  to  Naxos  and  Catana  and  waiting  for  cavalry  and 
supplies.  But  it  would  have  been  the  part  of  good  general- 
ship to  attack  Syracuse  earlier  in  the  season,  as  Lamachus 
had  urged  him  to  do  (chap.  xiv.  3). 

^^11-  1-  Moved  back  to  Ssrracuse:  early  in  the  spring 
of  414,  as  described  minutely  by  Thucydides  in  vl  97.  Dur- 
ing the  winter  the  Athenians  had  tried  to  win  over  as  many 
of  the  Sicels  in  the  interior  as  they  could ;  had  moved  from 
Naxos  to  Catana  and  reconstructed  there  the  camp  which  the 
Syracusans  had  destroyed ;  had  sent  triremes  to  Carthage  and 
Tyrrhenia  with  proposals  of  friendship ;  had  levied  horsemen 
from  the  Sicels  and  from  Egesta,  and  prepared  materials  and 
tools  for  siege  operations  in  the  spring.  At  the  very  begin- 
ning of  spring,  before  the  arrival  of  the  horsemen  summoned 
from  Athens,  they  had  made  successful  forays  along  the  coast 
of  Sicily  between  Catana  and  Syracuse.  Returning  to  Catana 
they  foimd  that  horsemen,  archers,  and  money  had  arrived 
from  Athens.  They  at  once  started  for  Syracuse  with  all 
their  forces  (Thuc,  vL  88,  94,  97). 

The  Syracusans,  on  their  part,  besides  fortifying  their  city 
and  the  immediate  neighborhood,  had  sent  envoys  to  Corinth 
and  Lacedaemon  with  an  appeal  for  aid.  A  Corinthian  em- 
bassy accompanied  the  Syracusan  envoys  to  Lacedaemon,  and 
there  they  found  Alcibiades  and  his  fellow  exiles.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  advice  and  arguments  of  Alcibiades,  the 
Lacedaemonians  determined  to  fortify  Deceleia  in  Attica, 
and  to  send  Gylippus  the  Spartan  to  command  the  Syracusan 
forces.  The  Corinthians  were  to  send  ships  (Thuc.,  vi  75, 
88-93). 

Thapsus:  "a  peninsula  with  a  narrow  isthmus  not  far 


'"f: 


I! 


f 

t  1 


y 


232 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


Pausanias  speaks  (i.  29,  9),  and  introduced  a  list  of  the 
names  of  those  who  perished. 

More  than  that :  the  narrative  of  Thucydides  speaks  of 

nine. 

XVIII.  1-3.  Plutarch  here  singles  out  two  of  the  many 
incidents  connected  with  the  Athenian  investment  of  Syra- 
cuse, viz,  the  death  of  Lamachus  and  the  straits  of  Nicias. 
They  are  narrated  by  Thucydides  in  vi  101  f. 

Within  the  walls:  i.  e.  within  the  circular  fort  which  the 
Athenians  had  built  in  the  center  of  Epipolae  (see  the  last 
note  on  xvii.  1). 

SyracTisans  ....  trying  to  run  a  wall,  etc :  they  made 
three  attempts  in  all  to  intersect  the  Athenian  wall  of  in- 
vestment. The  first  was  by  a  wall  running  from  the  fortified 
western  outpost  of  the  city  across  Epipolae  to  the  south  of 
the  Athenian  circular  fort.  Its  destruction  by  the  Athenians 
is  described  in  Thucydides,  vL  100.  The  second,  of  which 
Plutarch  here  speaks,  was  run  out  through  the  marshes  of  the 
Anapus,  to  the  south  of  Epipolae,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
Athenian  wall  from  reaching  the  great  harbor.  Hastening 
to  tell  of  the  fate  of  Lamachus,  Plutarch  omits  to  state  that 
this  wall  too  was  totally  destroyed  by  the  Athenians.  A 
third  cross  wall  of  the  Syracusans,  run  out  across  Epipolae 
to  the  north  of  the  Athenian  circular  fort,  was  successful, 
and  put  a  stop  to  the  building  of  the  Athenian  wall  to 
Trogilus  on  the  north  of  Syracuse  (Thuc.,  viL  4  and  6). 

XVIII.  2.  Lamachus  was  isolated:  Lamachus  was  has- 
tening from  his  victorious  left  wing,  before  which  the  S>Ta- 
cusans  had  fled  back  into  the  city,  to  the  succor  of  his  right 
wing,  which  had  been  thrown  into  temporary  confusion  by 
an  unexpected  rally  and  onslaught  of  the  Syracusan  cavalr}\ 
"  But  pressing  forward  across  a  certain  ditch  he  and  a  few 
who  had  followed  him  were  cut  off  from  the  rest,  and  he  fell 
with  five  or  six  others.  The  Syracusans  hastily  snatched  up 
their  bodies,  and  carried  them  across  the  river  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  enemy.  But  when  they  saw  the  rest  of  the 
Athenian  army  advancing  towards  them  they  retreated" 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


238 


(Thuc.,  vi  101).  Lamachus  fell,  therefore,  in  a  petty  skir- 
mish which  made  only  a  slight  halt  in  his  well  earned 
victory.  He  was  a  seasoned  and  successful  soldier,  and  his 
untimely  death  was  nothing  less  than  a  catastrophe  for  the 
Athenians.  For  a  time  they  carried  on  their  investment  of 
Syracuse  with  the  momentum  due  to  the  efforts  of  Lamachus, 
but  the  work  soon  slackened  when  Nicias  was  left  alone  in 
command. 

Gallicrates :  this  detail  is  not  even  hinted  at  by  Thucyd- 
ides, and  doubtless  comes  ultimately  from  Philistus  (Introd. 
p.  10),  though  the  story  of  the  duel  has  a  Homeric  flavor 
probably  due  to  Timaeus  (Introd.  p.  33). 

XVIII.  3.  Meuie  a  dash  upon  the  Athenian  walls :  not 
those  Syracusans  who  had  thrown  the  right  wing  of  Lama- 
chus into  temporary  confusion,  but  those  who  had  fled  into 
the  city  before  his  victorious  left  (Thuc,  vi  102, 1).  They 
attacked  the  circular  fort  in  the  center  of  Epipolae.  The 
previous  fighting  had  been  in  the  marshes  by  the  Anapus. 

With  none  to  succor  him :  there  is  much  pathos  in  the 
story  of  Plutarch  which  finds  no  place  in  Thucydides.  The 
Syracusans  "did  indeed  take  and  demolish  the  outwork; 
but  Nicias,  who  happened  to  have  been  left  there  because 
he  was  ill,  saved  the  fort  itself  "  (Jowett,  "  the  lines  them- 
selves ** ). 

XVIII.  4  Was  in  great  hopes :  this  seems  to  be  an 
abrupt  and  illogical  transition  from  the  feelings  natural  after 
the  portentous  vigor  shown  by  the  Syracusans  and  the  crip- 
pling death  of  Lamachus.  But  it  is  fully  justified  by  the 
narrative  of  Thucydides.  The  Athenian  army  in  the  plain 
of  the  Anapus  quickly  recovered  from  its  confusion,  repulsed 
the  Syracusans  in  front  of  it,  and  then  sent  aid  to  the  har- 
assed Nicias.  The  entire  fleet  at  the  same  time  entered  the 
great  harbor,  coming  from  its  station  at  Thapsus,  and  all  the 
Syracusans,  "seeing  this  combined  movement,  quickly  re- 
treated into  the  city,  thinking  that  with  their  present  force 
they  were  no  longer  able  to  prevent  the  completion  of  the 
line  of  wall  towards  the  sea  **  (vi  102,  3  L). 


234 


NOTES  ON   THE  NICIAS 


Ships  full  of  grain,  etc.:  "Provisions  came  to  their  army 
in  abundance  from  various  parts  of  Italy.  Many  of  the 
Sicel  tribes  who  had  hitherto  been  hesitating  now  joined  the 
Athenians,  and  three  penteconters  came  from  the  Tyrrhe- 
nians.    Everything  began  to  answer  to  their  hopes  "  (Thuc., 

VL  103,  2). 

Proposals  from  the  Syracusans:  "The  Syracusans  de- 
spaired of  saving  the  city  by  arms,  for  no  help  reached  them 
even  from  Peloponnesus.  Within  the  walls  they  were  talk- 
ing of  peace,  and  they  began  to  enter  into  communication 
with  Nicias,  who,  now  that  Lamachus  was  dead,  had  the  sole 
command  "  (Thuc,  vi  103,  3). 

XVIII.  5.  Gylippus:  in  consequence  of  the  urgent  ad- 
vice of  Alcibiades  to  the  Spartans  (Thuc.,  vi  91),  a  Spartan 
commander  was  chosen  and  sent  out  to  organize  and  lead 
the  Syracusan  forces.  The  choice  fell  upon  Gylippus,  prob- 
ably because  of  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  affairs 
of  the  Sicilian  and  Italian  Greeks.  His  father,  Cleandridas, 
had  been  banished  from  Sparta  in  445,  on  the  charge  of  hav- 
ing taken  Athenian  bribes,  and  had  then  become  a  citizen  of 
Thurii  (see  on  xxviii.  3).  "  Meanwhile  Gylippus  the  Lacedae- 
monian and  the  ships  from  Corinth  were  already  at  Leucas. 
They  were  alarmed  at  the  reports  which  were  continually 
pouring  in,  all  false,  but  all  agreeing  that  the  Athenian  lines 
round  Syracuse  were  now  complete.  Gylippus  had  no  longer 
any  hope  of  Sicily,  but  thought  that  he  might  save  Italy " 
(Thuc,  vi  104, 1). 

XVIII.  6.  Made  no  account  of  Gylippus:  "Nicias  heard 
of  his  approach,  but  despised  the  small  number  of  his  ships. 
He  thought  that  he  had  come  on  a  mere  privateering  expe- 
dition, and  for  some  time  set  no  watch  "  (Ibid,). 

Sailed  through  the  straits :  Gylippus  and  Pythen  the 
Corinthian  with  four  ships  had  hurried  on  in  advance  of 
the  main  fleet  at  Leucas,  and,  after  experiencing  a  disabling 
storm,  had  reached  Locri  in  Italy.  "  Nicias,  when  he  heard 
that  they  were  at  Locri,  although  he  had  despised  them  at 
first,  now  sent  out  four  Athenian  ships  to  intercept  them ;  but 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


236 


these  came  too  late.**  So  Gylippus  sailed  through  the  strait 
to  Himera,  raised  a  force  of  about  three  thousand  men  there, 
and  then  marched  towards  Syracuse,  having  learned  that  the 
city  was  not  yet  completely  invested,  but  that  an  army  might 
enter  by  way  of  Epipolae  (Thuc,  vii.  1). 

XVIII.  7.  Called  an  assembly:  see  the  citation  from 
Thucydides  in  the  note  on  xix.  1. 

Quite  small:  see  the  citation  from  Thucydides  in  the 
note  on  xvii  2—4. 

XIX  1.  In  this  nick  of  time :  the  Corinthian  ships  which 
Gylippus  and  Pythen  had  left  at  Leucas  (see  on  xviii  6) 
were  finally  ready,  and  started  with  all  speed  for  Syracuse. 
**  Gongylus,  one  of  the  Corinthian  commanders,  who  started 
last  in  a  single  ship,  arrived  at  Syracuse  before  the  rest  of 
the  fleet,  and  a  little  before  Gylippus.  He  found  the  citizens 
on  the  point  of  holding  an  assembly  at  which  the  question 
of  peace  was  to  be  discussed.  From  this  intention  he  dis- 
suaded them  "  (Thuc,  vii  2). 

XIX.  2.  Donned  their  arms :  unless  H^mrXO^ovro  can  be 
rendered  by  "saUied  forth  under  arms".  By  the  tidings 
of  Gongylus  the  Syracusans  were  reassured,  "and  at  once 
went  forth  with  their  whole  army  to  meet  Gylippus,  who, 
as  they  were  informed,  was  now  close  at  hand.  He  .... 
came  to  Epipolae,  taking  the  path  by  the  Euryelus,  where 
the  Athenians  had  found  a  way  before  him  [see  the  last  note 
on  xvii  1].  Having  formed  a  junction  with  the  Syracusans, 
he  marched  against  the  Athenian  lines.  He  arrived  just  at 
the  time  when  the  Athenians  had  all  but  finished,  etc.",  as 
cited  in  the  third  note  on  xvii.  2-4. 

This  was  the  turning  point  in  the  fortunes  of  the  Athenian 
expedition.  "  Few  incidents ",  says  Grote  (Hist,  of  Greece, 
vi  pp.  100  f.),  "throughout  the  whole  siege  of  Syracuse 
appear  so  unaccountable  as  the  fact  that  the  proceedings  and 
march  of  Gylippus,  from  his  landing  at  Himera  to  the  mo- 
ment of  his  entering  the  town,  were  accomplished  without 
the  smallest  resistance  on  the  part  of  Nikias."  Gylippus 
"  had  first  to  march  all  across  Sicily,  during  which  march  he 


236 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIA8 


might  have  been  embarrassed  and  perhaps  defeated;  and 
could  then  approach  Syracuse  only  by  one  road,  —  over  the 
high  ground  of  Euryalus  in  the  Athenian  rear,  through  passes 
few  in  number,  easy  to  defend,  by  which  Nikias  had  him- 
self first  approached,  and  through  which  he  had  only  got  by 
a  well-laid  plan  of  surprise.  Yet  Nikias  leaves  these  passes 
unoccupied  and  \mdef ended ;  he  takes  not  a  single  new  pre- 
caution ;  the  relieving  army  enters  Syracuse  as  it  were  over 
a  broad  and  free  plain."  The  same  negligence  was  shown 
by  the  Athenian  guard-ships  in  allowing  Grongylus  to  get 
into  Syracuse.  There  is  partial  but  still  insufficient  explana- 
tion in  the  facts  that  Lamachus  was  dead,  and  that  Nicias 
was  a  sick  man. 

Sent  a  herald,  etc. :  the  Athenians  were  disconcerted  by 
the  sudden  advance  upon  them  of  Gylippus  and  the  Syra- 
cusans,  but  formed  in  order  of  battle.  Gylippus  "  halted  as 
he  approached,  and  sent  a  herald  to  them  offering  a  truce  if 
they  were  willing  to  quit  Sicily  within  five  days  taking 
what  belonged  to  them.  But  they  despised  his  offer,  and 
sent  away  the  herald  without  an  answer.  Whereupon 
both  armies  set    themselves  in   order    of  battle"  (Thuc, 

vil  3,  1  f.). 

XIX.  3.  Some  of  his  soldiers  mooked:  this  chaffing  of 
the  herald  by  the  Athenian  soldiery  is  not  indicated  by 
Thucydides.  It  may  well  have  been  reported  by  Philistus 
(Introd.  p.  10). 

Restored  three  hundred  men :  the  captives  of  Sphacteria 
(see  viii.  1  and  note),  two  hundred  and  ninety-two  in  number. 

XIX.  4.  Timaeussays:  Plutarch  seldom  if  ever  mentions 
this  writer  with  approval  (Introd.  p.  33).  Here  he  convicts 
him  of  self-contradiction  in  a  desire  to  belittle  the  services 
of  Gylippus. 

XIX.  5.  The  first  battle :  it  is  not  the  purpose  of  Plu- 
tarch to  give  a  history  of  all  the  operations  before  Syracuse,  as 
he  explains  in  his  first  chapter.  Several  days  elapsed  between 
the  coming  of  Gylippus  and  this  battle.  In  the  mean  time 
important  and  significant  events  had  happened.    Labdalum, 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


237 


the  Athenian  fort  on  the  northern  edge  of  Epipolae  (see  the 
last  note  on  xviL  1),  was  captured  by  the  Syracusans,  as  well 
as  an  Athenian  trireme  which  was  watching  the  entrance  of 
the  great  harbor  (Thuc,  vii  3,  5).  A  third  cross  wall  was 
started  by  the  Syracusans  (see  on  xviii  1-3),  and  carried 
rapidly  across  Epipolae  to  the  north  of  the  Athenian  circular 
fort,  while  the  investing  wall  of  the  Athenians  was  con- 
stantly threatened.  Most  important  of  all,  Nicias  fortified 
Plemmyrium,  "a  promontory  which  runs  out  opposite  the 
city  and  narrows  the  entrance  to  the  Great  Harbour." 
Thither  he  transferred  his  ships,  a  portion  of  his  army,  and 
his  stores.  Twenty  ships  were  sent  out  to  intercept  the 
approaching  Corinthian  fleet.  At  last,  after  some  days  of 
threatening  maneuvers,  Gylippus  offered  battle,  and  was  de- 
feated, because  he  had  chosen  a  field  where  the  Syracusan 
cavalry  was  useless,  viz.  the  space  between  the  Athenian  and 
the  Syracusan  walls.  He  magnanimously  took  all  the  blame 
for  the  defeat  upon  himself,  and  promised  better  things  in 
the  next  engagement  (Thuc,  vii  4  and  5). 

And  also  Gkingylus :  this  item,  given  by  Plutarch  in  true 
Herodotean  spirit,  is  not  found  in  Thucydides,  and  probably 
comes  from  Philistus  (Introd.  p.  10). 

On  the  day  following : ''  on  the  first  opportunity  ",  says 
Thucydides  (viL  6, 1),  who  gives  minute  details  of  this  sec- 
ond battle.  The  whole  Athenian  army  was  driven  within  its 
lines,  and  on  the  following  night  the  Syracusans  carried 
their  cross  wall  past  the  enclosing  wall  of  the  Athenians, 
who  were  thua  deprived  of  all  hope  of  completely  investing 
the  city. 

XIX.  6.  Manning  their  ships :  not  long  after  the  victory 
of  the  Syracusans  the  Corinthian  fleet  eluded  the  Athenian 
guard-ships  and  sailed  into  the  harbor  of  Sjracuse.  The  Cor- 
inthians were  able  seamen,  having  been  the  first  ship-builders 
among  the  Greeks,  and  found  willing  pupils  in  the  Syracu- 
sans (Thuc,  i.  13,  2 ;  vil  7,  4). 

XIX.  7.  Nicias  became  dejected :  '*  he  now  thought  the 
situation  so  critical  that,  if  the  Athenians  did  not  at  once 


238 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIA8 


recall  them  or  send  another  considerable  army  to  their  help, 
the  expedition  was  lost"  (Thuc,  vii  8, 1). 

Wrote  a  dispatch :  Thucydides  gives  (in  viL  11-15)  what 
purports  to  be  the  contents  of  this  letter  of  Nicias.  Like 
many  of  the  speeches,  it  is  probably  composed  of  "  the  senti- 
ments proper  to  the  occasion",  expressed  as  Thucydides 
thought  Nicias  "would  be  likely  to  express  them"  (L  22, 1), 
and  so  amounts  to  a  graphic  commentary  on  the  situation  by 
Thucydides.  To  his  mind  the  Athenians,  now  that  the 
Syracusans  had  succeeded  in  intersecting  their  line  of  en- 
closing walls,  were  rather  the  besieged  than  the  besiegers 
(viL  11,  4). 

XX.  1.  The  leading  men:  representatives  of  the  most  ad- 
vanced and  radical  democracy,  l^e  Peisander  and  Androcles. 
With  Alcibiades  in  banishment  and  Nicias  in  Sicily  there 
was  none  to  oppose  them.  Of  their  delaying  a  second  expe- 
dition through  jealousy  of  Nicias,  we  read  only  here,  but  it  is 
not  improbable. 

Demosthenes:  the  real  hero  of  Pylos  and  Sphacteria,  and 
the  most  experienced  and  able  general  of  his  time,  although 
less  fortunate  than  others.  He  had  been  reappointed  general 
in  424,  and  had  been  partially  successful  in  one  campaign  of 
that  year  against  Megara,  but  totally  unsuccessful  in  that 
against  Boeotia,  which  ended  with  the  disaster  of  DeliuuL 
See  the  notes  on  vL  3  and  4.  He  was  one  of  the  seventeen 
Athenians  chosen  to  ratify  the  peace  in  421,  but  does  not 
appear  again  in  history  until  now. 

Eurymedon :  one  of  the  commanders  of  the  expedition  to 
Sicily  in  425-424.  He  had  been  fined  on  his  return  after 
the  conclusion  of  peace  between  the  Sicilian  cities  (see  on 
xii.  1),  but  his  experience  rendered  him  invaluable  now.  No 
abler  or  more  fitting  colleagues  for  Nicias  than  Demos- 
thenes and  Eurymedon  could  have  been  chosen.  "  Euiymedon 
was  despatched  immediately  to  Sicily  about  the  winter  sol- 
stice ;  he  took  with  him  ten  ships  conveying  a  hundred  and 
twenty  talents  of  silver,  and  was  to  tell  the  army  in  Sicily 
that  they  should  receive  assistance  and  should  not  be  DE- 


NOTES ON  THE  NICIAS 


239 


lected.  Demosthenes  remained  behind,  and  was  busied  in 
getting  ready  the  expedition  which  he  was  to  bring  out  in 
the  spring  "  (Thuc,  vii.  16,  2  ;  17,  1). 

GoUeafiTues  for  Nicias:  to  serve  only  until  the  regular 
colleagues,  Demosthenes  and  Eurymedon,  should  arrive. 
The  Athenians  did  not  wish  Nicias  "  to  bear  the  burden  in 
his  sickness  alone  ".  Eurymedon,  after  performing  his  errand, 
returned  as  far  as  Corcyra,  where  he  met  Demosthenes,  and 
cooperated  thereafter  with  him  (Thuc,  vii.  31,  3). 

XX.  2-3.  In  the  mean  time :  a  vague  phrase.  It  was  in 
the  opening  spring  of  the  year  413,  when  the  Lacedaemonians 
had  invaded  Attica  and  were  fortifying  Deceleia  (Thuc,  vii  19, 
1);  while  merchant  ships  laden  with  heavy-armed  troops  to 
reenforce  the  Syracusans  were  sailing  from  Peloponnesus 
(Ibid,) ;  while  Demosthenes  was  assembling  his  armament  at 
Aegina  (Thuc,  vii  20,  3);  and  after  Gylippus  had  returned 
to  Syracuse  with  reenforcements  from  the  Sicilian  cities 
which  he  had  won  over  (Thuc,  vii  21,  1). 

By  land  and  sea:  graphic  details  of  this  combined  attack 
upon  the  Athenians  by  the  Syracusans  are  given  by  Thucyd- 
ides in  vii.  22-24.  "The  loss  of  Plemmyrium  was  one 
of  the  greatest  and  severest  blows  which  befell  the  Athenians. 
For  now  they  could  no  longer  even  introduce  provisions  with 
safety,  but  the  Syracusan  ships  lay  watching  to  prevent 
them,  and  they  had  to  fight  for  the  passage.  General  dis- 
couragement and  dismay  prevailed  throughout  the  army." 
Eurymedon  heard  of  the  loss  of  Plemmyrium  on  his  voyage 
homewards,  and  reported  it  to  Demosthenes  at  Corcyra 
(Thuc,  vii  31,  3).  Plutarch  made  no  mention  in  its  proper 
place  of  the  occupation  of  Plemmyrium  by  Nicias  (see  the 
note  on  xix.  5).  Of  the  marvellous  activity  on  the  part  of 
•ihe  Syracusans  which  followed  their  successes,  Thucydides 
gives  a  glowing  picture  in  vii  25.  From  this  is  taken  the 
statement  in  Plutarch  that  the  Syracusans  considered  them- 
selves to  blame  for  their  naval  defeat. 

XX.  4-5.  Menander  and  Euthydemus :  there  is  nothing 
in  Thucydides  of  their  rivalry  with  Demosthenes  and  Nicias, 


M^i 


240 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


241 


or  of  their  forcing  a  decision  to  fight  another  sea  fight.  It 
was  the  Syracusans  who  forced  this  upon  Nicias,  as  it  was 
good  policy  for  them  to  do  before  the  arrival  of  Demosthenes 
(Thuc,  vii.  36, 1).  Plutarch  is  probably  drawing  here  upon 
Philistus,  who  is  good  authority  for  what  pertains  to  the  Syra- 
cusan  side  of  the  struggle,  but  not  so  good  for  the  Athenian 
side.  And  the  Syracusans  had  every  reason  for  taking  the 
offensive.  "Hitherto  the  Sicilian  cities  had  only  watched 
the  course  of  events,  but  now  the  whole  island,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Agrigentum,  which  was  neutral,  united  with  the 
Syracusans  against  the  Athenians  "  (Thuc,  vii  33,  2). 

Out-maneuvered  by  Ariston :  this  is  the  crowning  inci- 
dent in  a  three  days*  struggle,  which  is  fully  described  by 
Thucydides  in  vii.  36-41.  After  strengthening  their  fleet 
and  perfecting  their  plans,  the  Syracusans  attacked  the  Athe- 
nians again  both  by  land  and  sea.  On  the  first  day  neither 
side  could  gain  any  decisive  advantage.  On  the  second,  the 
Syracusans  remained  quiet,  while  the  Athenians  repaired 
their  ships  and  made  special  preparations  for  defense.  On 
the  third  day  the  Syracusans  attacked  again  by  land  and 
sea.  The  day  was  wearing  away,  like  the  first,  without  a 
decisive  engagement,  when  the  Syracusans  put  in  to  shore 
and  disembarked  for  the  mid-day  meal.  The  Athenians  took 
this  as  a  confession  of  defeat,  and  themselves  retired  and 
disembarked,  thinking  there  would  be  no  more  fighting  that 
day.  But  food  had  been  brought  down  to  the  shore  by  the 
Syracusans,  so  that  their  crews  took  their  meal  close  by 
the  ships,  and  then  suddenly  reembarked  and  bore  down  on 
the  Athenian  ships.  The  Athenians  were  thus  compelled  to 
put  out  for  battle  in  great  disorder  and  most  of  them  fasting. 
They  were  defeated  and  driven  to  their  moorings,  where 
they  could  with  difficulty  keep  the  Syracusans  from  destroy- 
ing their  ships.  The  Syracusans  at  last  retired,  flushed  with 
victory,  and  confident  of  superiority  over  their  foes  on  sea 
now  as  well  as  on  land.  They  had  damaged  many  of  the  Athe- 
nian ships,  and  sunk  seven,  either  killing  their  crews  or 
taking  them  prisoners. 


XXI.  1.  This  paragraph  is  essentially  the  same  as  Thucyd- 
ides, vii.  42, 1.  The  number  three  thousand  for  the  darters, 
archers,  and  slingers  takes  the  place  of  "not  a  few"  in 
Thucydides,  and  some  rhetoric  is  devoted  to  the  spectacular 
entry  of  Demosthenes  upon  the  scene. 

XXI.  2.  Fear  reigned  among  the  Syracusans  :  this  also 
is  Thucydidean  (vii.  42,  2).  The  historian  adds  by  way  of 
contrast  that  "the  first  Athenian  army  regained  a  certain 
degree  of  confidence  after  their  disasters  ". 

XXI.  2-4.  The  joy  of  Nicias forced  to  yield:  this 

whole  passage  is  clearly  a  transfer  by  Plutarch  into  terms 
appropriate  to  Nicias,  the  subject  of  his  biography,  of 
what  Thucydides  gives  (viL  42,  3  —  43,1)  in  terms  appro- 
priate to  Demosthenes.  Thucydides,  that  is,  speaks  from  the 
standpoint  of  Demosthenes,  and  Plutarch  transposes  the 
material  to  the  standpoint  of  Nicias,  with  more  or  less 
freedom. 

Demosthenes  determined  that  he  would  not  duplicate  the 
failures  of  Nicias,  and  so  planned  to  destroy  the  Syracusan 
cross  wall,  now  that  the  Athenians  had  regained  their  former 
superiority  both  by  land  and  sea.  But  his  frontal  attacks 
upon  this  wall  were  repulsed  by  the  Sjn^cusans,  and  he 
therefore  determined  to  carry  out  a  cherished  plan  of  attack- 
ing Epipolae  and  the  enemy's  camp  there  by  way  of  Eurye- 
lus,  where  the  Athenians  had  once  ascended  (see  the  last 
note  on  xviL  1).  If  successful  in  the  attempt,  the  Syracusan 
cross  wall  could  then  be  taken  by  attacks  in  flank  and  rear. 
To  this  course  he  succeeded  in  persuading  Nicias  and  his 
colleagues. 

In  oommunication  with  Nicias :  see  on  xviii.  4 

XXI.  5-9.  This  is,  on  the  whole,  a  fair  paraphrase  of 
three  wonderful  chapters  in  Thucydides  (vii.  43-45).  Some 
minor  variations  suggest,  though  they  do  not  necessarily 
demand,  the  use  of  another  source  also,  like  Philistus 
(Introd.  p.  10),  who  may  have  been  an  eyewitness  of  the  events. 
More  detail  would  doubtless  have  been  adopted  by  Plutarch 
had  Nicias  been  engaged  in    the  undertaking.      But  he 


\\\ 


242 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIA8 


remained  in  camp.  Rather  surprising,  even  so,  is  the  omis- 
sion of  the  perplexities  caused  the  Athenians  by  the  misuse 
of  their  watchword,  and  by  the  singing  of  the  Paean,  a 
Dorian  battle-hymn,  on  both  sides.  An  additional  item  or 
two,  like  the  number  two  thousand  for  the  Athenian  dead, 
may  come  from  Philistus.  Diodorus  (Ephorus)  puts  the 
number  at  twenty-five  hundred  (xiii.  11,  5).  Thucydides 
speaks  only  of  "a  considerable  number"  (vii.  45),  The 
Athenians  received  their  dead  imder  a  flag  of  truce. 

XXII.  This  chapter  is,  on  the  whole,  a  good  condensation 
of  Thucydides,  viL  47-50,  3.  Some  details  might  be  clearer. 
The  Athenian  generals  held  a  formal  council  of  war.  Dem- 
osthenes was  for  returning  home  while  it  was  still  possible, 
to  wage  war  upon  the  Peloponnesians  in  Attica.  But 
Eurymedon,  who  had  already  tasted  the  displeasure  of  the 
Athenians  at  his  failure  to  accomplish  their  wishes,  seems  to 
have  sided  with  Nicias  against  this  proposal  He  was,  how- 
ever, in  full  accord  with  Demosthenes  in  urging  a  change  of 
base  to  Thapsus  or  Catana,  but  Nicias  opposed  even  this, 
and  so  a  fatal  delay  ensued.  For  the  fear  of  Athenian 
displeasure  which  actuated  Nicias,  see  the  note  on  vi.  2. 

XXII.  3.  Leon  of  Byzantium :  this  item  is  an  addition 
of  Plutarch's,  and  probably  comes  from  some  standard  collec- 
tion of  "  memorable  sayings  ".  Leon  was  a  rhetorician  and 
historian  of  Byzantium  in  the  time  of  Philip  of  Macedon, 
who  besieged  the  city  in  340,  but  did  not  capture  it,  owing 
to  relief  sent  from  Athens.  The  anecdote  may  be  connected 
with  this  siege. 

XXII.  4.  A  fresh  army:  collected  by  Gylippus  in  the 
interior  of  Sicily,  and  including  some  sixteen  himdred  heavy- 
armed  troops  sent  from  Peloponnesus  (see  the  note  on  xx. 
2-3),  who  had  made  a  roundabout  journey  to  Selinus  by 
way  of  Libya,  under   stress  of  weather  (Thuc,  viL  50,  2). 

Nicias  decided  ...  ordered :  in  Thucydides,  the  generals 
in  council  do  the  deciding  and  ordering,  Nicias  only  stipulat- 
ing that  there  should  be  no  voting  on  the  question  by  the 
subordinate  officers. 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


243 


XXIII.  1.  A ffreat terror, etc. :  ''The  mass  of  the  army 
was  greatly  moved,  and  called  upon  the  generals  to  remain  " 
(Thuc,  vii.  50,  4). 

XXIII.  2-6.  These  paragraphs  are  a  compilation  from 
various  sources  other  than  Thucydides.  Plutarch  had  already 
written  {De  superstitioiie,  S  =  Morals,  p.  169  A):  "And  per- 
haps it  had  been  better  if  the  Athenian  general,  Nicias,  had 
been  eased  of  his  folly  the  same  way  that  Midas  and  Aris- 
todemus  were  [these  had  made  away  with  themselves],  than 
for  him  to  sit  still  for  fear  of  a  lunar  eclipse,  while  he  was 
invested  by  an  enemy.  .  .  .  There  was  nothing  formidable 
in  the  interposition  of  the  earth  betwixt  the  sun  and  the  moon, 
neither  was  there  anything  dreadful  in  the  shadow's  meeting 
the  moon  at  the  proper  time.  No,  the  dreadfulness  lay  here, 
that  the  darkness  of  ignorance  should  blind  and  befool  a 
man's  reason  at  a  time  when  he  had  most  occasion  to  use  it." 

XXIIL  2.  Anaxagoras:  a  native  of  Olazomenae  in  Ionian 
Asia  Minor.  He  was  bom  about  500  b.  c,  and  came  to 
Athens  about  460,  where  he  had  great  influence  on  advanced 
thinkers  like  Pericles  and  Euripides.  The  enemies  of  Per- 
icles secured  the  banishment  of  Anaxagoras  about  432,  and 
he  died  at  Lampsacus  in  428.  Two  of  his  doctrines  antici- 
pated some  of  the  noblest  phases  of  modem  thought,  —  the 
doctrine  of  Mind  as  the  source  of  order  in  the  universe,  and 
the  doctrine  of  "  rotation  ",  our  "  Nebular  Hypothesis  ".  See 
the  note  on  the  Themistocles,  ii  3. 

XXIIL  3.  Protagoras :  of  Abdera,  in  Thrace,  the  first  to 
call  himself  a  "  sophist "  and  to  teach  for  pay,  an  occupation 
in  which  he  amassed  wealth.  The  excitement  caused  by  his 
second  visit  to  Athens,  bringing  in  his  train  many  disciples 
won  in  other  Greek  cities,  is  playfully  described  in  Plato's 
Protagoras,  pp.  309-315.  At  a  later  visit  (not  far  from  411 
B.  c.)  he  was  accused  of  impiety  and,  to  escape  certain  con- 
demnation, fled,  but  only  to  perish  on  the  sea. 

XXIIL  4  Dion:  see  the  note  on  xiv.  6.  The  ardent  de- 
votion of  Dion  to  Plato,  and  his  desire  to  have  Svracuse 
governed  according  to  the  political  philosophy  of  his  teacher, 


.rii'i 


244 


NOTES   ON  THE  NICIA8 


was  the  cause  of  his  downfall  The  eclipse  of  the  moon  as 
he  was  on  the  point  of  setting  out  from  Zacynthus  against 
Dionysius  did  not  disturb  Dion,  "  who  understood  the  revo- 
lutions of  eclipses,  and  the  way  in  which  the  moon  is  over- 
shadowed and  the  ea:rth  interposed  between  her  and  the  sim." 
His  soldiers,  however,  had  to  have  the  portent  explained  to 
them  as  foreshadowing  the  eclipse  of  the  splendid  sovereignty 
of  Dionysius  (Plutarch,  Dion,  xxiv.). 

XXIII.  5.  A  soothsayer  who  was  expert:  there  was  no 
lack  of  soothsayers,  according  to  Thucydides  (vii.  50,  4). 
**  Nicias  himself,  who  was  too  much  under  the  influence  of 
divinations  and  omens,  refused  even  to  discuss  the  question 
of  their  removal  imtil  they  had  remained  thrice  nine  days,  as 
the  soothsayers  prescribed." 

Stilbides:  so  eminent  that  his  name  became  representa- 
tive of  the  whole  profession  to  the  comic  poets  (Aristophanes, 
Peace,  1031,  and  scholia).  His  relations  with  Nicias  must 
have  been  established  by  the  Hiero  of  whom  we  read  in 

chap.  V. 

Philoehonis:  see  the  Introd.  p.  34.  It  is  he  who  notes 
the  presence  and  death  of  Stilbides  in  Sicily,  as  is  clear  from 
the  scholia  on  Aristophanes  referred  to  in  the  last  note. 

XXIII.  6.  Autocleides:  an  Athenian  of  unknown  date, 
author  of  a  work  on  sacrificial  ritual  and  tradition  (Ath- 
enaeus,  xL  p.  473  b).  Plutarch  probably  finds  him  cited  by 
Philochorus. 

Nicias  persuaded  the  Athenians:  see  the  citation  from 
Thucydides  above  on  §  5.  When,  however,  the  Syracusans  be- 
gan to  close  the  mouth  of  the  great  harbor,  the  council  of 
generals  decided  to  attempt  departure  at  once  (Thuc.,  vii  60), 
by  sea  if  possible,  otherwise  by  land. 

XXIV.  At  this  point  in  the  story  Thucydides  has  recourse 
to  his  most  epic  manner,  as  a  brief  summary  of  the  chapters 
in  his  history  which  are  covered  by  this  single  chapter  of 
Plutarch  will  show : 

vii  51.  The  Syracusans,  hearing  of  the  intention  of  the 
Athenians  to  depart,  resume  the  offensive,  practicing  their 


NOTES   ON  THE  NICIAS 


245 


ships  for  another  engagement,  and  attacking  the  Athenian 
lines  on  land. 

52-54.  In  a  third  sea  fight  the  Syracusans  are  completely 
victorious,  cutting  ofif  and  destroying  Eurymedon  with  a 
division  of  ships,  and  threatening  the  safety  of  the  rest  of 
the  Athenian  fleet.  In  their  attack  upon  the  Athenian 
camp,  however,  they  are  repulsed. 

55.  By  this  brilliant  success  of  the  Syracusans  on  the  sea 
the  Athenians  are  plunged  into  despair.  "  They  had  failed 
at  almost  every  point,  and  were  already  in  great  straits." 

56.  The  Sjrracusans,  on  the  other  hand,  elated  by  their 
success,  think  no  longer  merely  of  achieving  their  own  de- 
liverance, but  of  destroying  the  Athenians  and  their  allies  by 
land  and  sea,  and  of  thus  becoming  the  leading  city  of 
Hellas. 

57-58.  Detailed  epic  review  of  all  the  forces  arrayed  on 
both  sides. 

59.  The  Syracusans  begin  to  close  up  the  mouth  of  the  great 
harbor,  and  prepare  for  a  fourth  and  decisive  sea  fight. 

60.  The  Athenians  on  their  part  also  prepare  for  another 
sea  fight,  which  should  secure  their  departure  in  their  fleet 
They  concentrate  their  lines  on  land,  and  man  one  hundred 
and  ten  ships  for  battle,  adopting  new  and  special  devices. 

61-64.  Speech  of  Nicias  to  his  men. 

65.  The  Syracusans  include  in  their  preparations  special 
precautions  against  the  new  and  special  devices  of  the 
Athenians. 

66-68.  Speech  of  Gylippus  and  his  generals  to  their  men. 

69.  After  a  pathetic  supplementary  appeal  to  his  trier- 
archs,  Nicias  disposes  his  land  forces  along  the  shore,  while 
Demosthenes  and  his  colleagues  proceed  towards  the  mouth  of 
the  harbor  with  their  ships,  intending  to  force  their  way  out. 

XXIV.  2.  The  particular  incidents  leading  up  to  the  third 
sea  fight  are  additions  to  the  accoimt  of  Thucydides,  probably 
coming  from  Philistus  (Introd.  p.  10). 

XXIV.  3.  Bade  them  withdraw  by  land :  this  is  imdue 
anticipation  by  Plutarch  of  the  effects  of  the  third  sea  fight 


246 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


According  to  Thucydides  (chap.  60),  the  generals  and  officers 
met  in  council,  considered  the  difficulties  of  the  situation,  and 
decided  to  fight  a  decisive  battle  with  their  ships, "  and,  if 
they  conquered,  go  to  Catana ;  but  if  not,  they  would  bum 
their  ships,  and  retreat  by  land  in  good  order." 

XXIV.  4.  The  Heraoleum :  on  the  high  grounds  of  Epi- 
polae,  near  the  city.  Thucydides  is  silent  on  this  matter, 
which  probably  comes  to  Plutarch  through  Timaeus  (Introd. 

p.  33). 

XXV.  1.  The  first  part  of  this  paragraph  probably  comes 
from  Timaeus  (Introd.  p.  33),  being  a  continuation  of 
xxiv.  4.  The  second  part  is  the  briefest  possible  compen- 
dium of  two  of  the  most  vividly  descriptive  chapters  in  the 
whole  work  of  Thucydides  (vii.  70  and  71).  Here,  if  any- 
where, he  "  surpasses  himself  in  vividness,  pathos,  and  va- 
riety "  (i  1),  and  Plutarch  does  well  to  avoid  comparisons. 

XXV.  2.  The  details  of  this  paragraph,  while  not  incon- 
sistent at  all  with  the  story  of  Thucydides,  are  not  taken  from 
it,  but,  in  all  probability,  from  that  of  Philistus  (Introd. 
p.  10).  Ariston  the  Corinthian  captain  had  already  been 
the  author  of  one  victory  for  the  Syracusans  (xx.  5). 

XXV.  3.  "  The  Athenians,  overwhelmed  by  their  misery, 
never  so  much  as  thought  of  recovering  their  wrecks  or  of 
asking  leave  to  collect  their  dead.  Their  intention  was  to 
retreat  that  very  night "  (Thuc,  vii.  72,  2).  Then  follows  a 
significant  detail  for  which  Plutarch  might  well  have  found 
a  place.  Demosthenes  proposed  to  Nicias  that  at  day- 
break they  make  another  attempt,  with  their  remaining  ves- 
sels, which  still  outnumbered  those  of  the  Syracusans,  to 
force  a  passage  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor.  Nicias  ap- 
proved, but  the  sailors  were  paralyzed  by  their  defeat  and 
refused  to  embark.  "  So  the  Athenians  all  made  up  their 
minds  to  escape  by  land." 

XXVI.  This  chapter  is  an  admirable  condensation  and 
improvement  of  Thucydides,  vii.  73  -77.  Certain  slight  varia- 
tions may  be  noted,  and  one  or  two  important  omissions 
supplied. 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


247 


XXVI.  1.  Ghrlippus:  of  him  there  is  no  mention  here  in 
Thucydides.  It  is  Hermocrates  who  goes  to  the  Syracusan 
authorities  and  proposes  to  mareh  out  that  very  night  and 
obstruct  the  way  of  the  Athenians.  The  authorities  decide 
that  this  is  impossible,  whereupon  Hermocrates  concocts  his 
stratagem. 

XXVI.  2.  Thucydides  gives  the  significant  detail  of  the 
capture  by  the  Syracusans  of  all  the  ships  of  the  Athenians 
except  a  few  which  were  burned  (vii  74,  2). 

XXVI.  3.  And  then  set  out :  **  They  seemed,  not  like  an 
army,  but  like  the  fugitive  population  of  a  city  captured  after 
a  siege ;  and  of  a  great  city  too.  For  the  whole  multitude 
who  were  marching  together  numbered  not  less  than  forty 
thousand  "  (Thuc,  viL  75,  5). 

Lighter  than  those  to  come : ''  having  suffered  calamities 
too  great  for  tears  already,  and  dreading  miseries  yet  greater 
in  the  unknown  future  "  (Thua,  vii  75,  4). 

XXVI.  4-6.  This  pathetic  picture  of  Nicias  is  fair  infer- 
ence from  and  improvement  of  the  material  of  the  speech 
which  Thucydides  here  puts  into  his  mouth  for  the  encour- 
agement and  consolation  of  his  men  (vii  76  t). 

XXVII.  1.  For  eight  successive  days:  minutely  de- 
scribed, day  by  day,  in  Thucydides,  viL  78-85.  Plutarch 
passes  over  the  events  of  the  first  five  days,  and  takes  up  the 
story  at  the  surrender  of  Demosthenes,  on  the  sixth  day. 

The  estate  of  Polyzelus :  the  detail  of  the  name  undoubt- 
edly comes  from  Philistus  (Introd.  p.  10).  Thucydides 
speaks  of  it  as  "  a  walled  enclosure,  having  a  road  on  both 
sides  and  planted  thickly  with  olive  trees'*  (vii  81,  4). 
The  division  of  Demosthenes,  forming  the  rear  guard, 
and  comprising  the  larger  half  of  the  army,  "got  severed 
from  the  other  division,  and  marched  in  less  order"  (Thuc, 
vii  80,  4).  This  was  during  the  night  following  the  fifth 
day.  By  noon  of  the  sixth  day  some  six  miles  separated  the 
two  divisions,  and  the  Syracusans  came  upon  that  of  Demos- 
thenes *'  marching  slowly  and  in  disorder  "  (Thuc,  vii.  81,  2). 
Nicias,  on  the  other  hand,  "  marched  faster,  thinking  that 


248 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


their  safety  depended  at  such  a  time,  not  in  remaining  and 
fighting,  if  they  could  avoid  it,  but  in  retreating  as  quickly  as 
they  could,  and  resisting  only  when  they  were  positively 
compelled.  Demosthenes,  on  the  other  hand,  who  had  been 
more  incessantly  harassed  throughout  the  retreat,  because 
marching  last  he  was  first  attacked  by  the  enemy,  now,  when 
he  saw  the  Syracusans  pursuing  him,  instead  of  pressing  on- 
ward, had  ranged  his  army  in  order  of  battle.  Thus  linger- 
ing he  was  surrounded  "  (Thuc,  viL  81, 3  f.). 

XXVII.  2.  Gave  himself  a  thrust :  Thucydides  says  noth- 
ing of  this  attempt  at  suicide  on  the  part  of  Demosthenes, 
but  it  is  known  to  have  been  reported  by  Philistus  (Introd. 
p.  10).     Pausanias,  speaking  of   a  monument   on  the  road 
to  the  Academy  "raised  to  the  men  who  fell  in  Euboea 
and   Chios,  and  who  perished  in  the   farthest  r^ons  of 
Asia  and  in  Sicily  ",  says  (i.  xxix.  9) :  **  Inscribed  are  the 
names  of  the  generals,  except  Nicias,  and  the  names  of  the 
soldiers,  both  citizens  and  Plataeans.     According  to  Philis- 
tus, whose  account  I  follow,  the  reason  why  Nicias  was  left 
out  was  that  he  surrendered  voluntarily,  whereas  Demos- 
thenes made  terms  for  every  one  but  himself,  and  tried  to 
kill  himself  when  he  was  taken."    The  terms  which  Demos- 
thenes made  for  his  men  were,  according  to  Thucydides  (viL 
82,  2),  that  "  their  arms  were  to  be  surrendered,  but  no  one 
was  to  suffer  death,  either  from  violence  or  from  imprison- 
ment, or  from  want  of  the  bare  means  of  life.     So  they  all 
surrendered,  being  in  number  six  thousand." 
Told  Nicias :  on  the  following  (seventh)  day. 
XXVII.  3-5.  These  paragraphs  are  essentially  Thucydi- 
dean.     Plutarch  omits  the  minor  detail  of  a  night  march 
attempted  in  vain  by  Nicias.     He  omits  also  many  realistic 
details  of  the  bloody  carnage  in  the  river  Asinarus,  where 
**  the  water  at  once  became  foul,  but  was  drunk  aU  the  same, 
though  muddy  and  dyed  with  blood,  and  the  crowd  fought 
for  it  '*  (Thuc,  vii.  84,  5).     Also,  Plutarch  is  much  more 
dramatic  than  Thucydides  in  his  account  of  the  final  surren- 
der of  Nicias,  although  he  clearly  says  nothing  that  may  not 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


249 


have  been  suggested  by  Thucydides,  or  naturally  inferred 
from  the  well  known  circumstances  of  the  case. 

XXVII.  6.  These  details,  and  the  note  of  triumph  at  the 
close  of  the  paragraph,  undoubtedly  come  from  Philistus 
(Introd.  p.  10).  Thucydides  simply  says:  "The  Syracusans 
and  their  allies  collected  their  forces  and  returned  with  the 
spoil,  and  as  many  prisoners  as  they  could  take  with  them, 
into  the  city  "  (viL  86, 1).  And  when  he  sums  up  his  mar- 
velous story  of  the  expedition,  it  is  from  an  impartial,  but 
still  distinctly  Athenian  standpoint  that  he  says  (vii  ^Ifin.) : 
"  Of  all  the  Hellenic  actions  which  took  place  in  this  war,  or 
indeed  of  aU  Hellenic  actions  which  are  on  record,  this  was 
the  greatest  —  the  most  glorious  to  the  victors,  the  most 
ruinous  to  the  vanquished ;  for  they  were  utterly  and  at  all 
points  defeated,  and  their  sufferings  were  prodigious.  Fleet 
and  army  perished  from  the  face  of  the  earth ;  nothing  was 
saved,  and  of  the  many  who  went  forth  few  returned  home." 

XXVIII.  1.  These  details  come,  doubtless,  from  Philistus 
(Introd.  p.  10).  Thucydides  says  (viL  86,  2) :  "  The  captive 
Athenians  and  allies  they  deposited  in  the  quarries,  which 
they  thought  would  be  the  safest  place  of  confinement. 
Nicias  and  Demosthenes  they  put  to  the  sword,  although 
against  the  will  of  Gylippus.  For  Gylippus  thought  that  to 
carry  home  with  him  to  Lacedaemon  the  generals  of  the  enemy, 
over  and  above  all  his  other  successes,  would  be  a  brilliant 
triumph.  One  of  them,  Demosthenes,  happened  to  be  the 
greatest  foe,  and  the  other  the  greatest  friend  of  the  Lacedae- 
monians, both  in  the  same  matter  of  Pylos  and  Sphacteria. 
For  Nicias  had  taken  up  their  cause,  and  had  persuaded  the 
Athenians  to  make  the  peace  which  set  at  liberty  the  pris- 
oners taken  in  the  island.  The  Lacedaemonians  were  grate- 
ful to  him  for  the  service,  and  this  was  the  main  reason  why 
he  trusted  Gylippus  and  surrendered  himself  to  him."  See 
chap.  xxviL  4-5  of  the  Nicias. 

Gameius,  Metaffeitnion  :  Dorian  and  Ionian  names,  re- 
spectively, for  the  month  corresponding  to  the  latter  half  of 
August  and  the  first  half  of  September. 


/i 


250 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


XXVIII.  2.  Hermoorates  protested :  an  item  from  Phil- 
istus  (Introd.  p.  10). 

XXVIII.  3.  Timaens  says :  cf,  chap.  xix.  4. 

Cleandridas:  the  guardian  and  adviser  of  the  Spartan 
king  Pleistoanax,  on  the  invasion  of  Attica  in  446.  He  was 
believed  to  have  been  bribed  by  Pericles  to  induce  Pleisto- 
anax to  withdraw.  "  When  the  army  had  withdrawn  and 
had  been  disbanded  to  their  several  cities,  the  Lacedaemo- 
nians, in  indignation,  laid  a  heavy  fine  upon  their  King,  the 
full  amount  of  which  he  was  unable  to  pay,  and  so  betook 
himself  out  of  Lacedaemon,  while  Cleandridas,  who  had  gone 
into  voluntary  exile,  was  condemned  to  death.  He  was  the 
father  of  that  Gylippus  who  overcame  the  Athenians  in 
Sicily.  And  nature  seems  to  have  imparted  covetousness  to 
the  son,  as  it  were  a  congenital  disease,  owing  to  which  he 
too,  after  noble  achievements,  was  caught  in  base  practices 
and  banished  from  Sparta  in  disgrace.  This  story,  however, 
I  have  told  at  length  in  my  life  of  Lysander  {Perieles,  xxiL  3). 
Cleandridas  betook  himself  to  Magna  Graecia,  became  a 
citizen  of  Thurii  (Thuc.,vL  104, 2),  and  distinguished  himself 
in  his  adopted  home  as  a  soldier  (Frontinus,  <Si<ra^.,  ii.  3,  12). 

In  my  life  of  Lysander :  chapters  xvL  f . 

XXVIII.  5.  The  shield  of  Nioias :  with  this  item,  pos- 
sibly taken  from  Timaeus,  Plutarch  takes  his  leave  of  Nicias. 
He  has  already,  in  xxvi  6,  anticipated  the  memorable  words 
with  which  Thucydides  takes  his  leave  of  him  (vii  86,  5) : 
**  No  one  of  the  Hellenes  of  my  time  was  less  deserving  of 
so  miserable  an  end ;  for  he  lived  in  the  practice  of  every 
virtue "  ( Jowett) ;  or,  "  in  the  entire  practice  of  what  men 
regarded  as  virtue  "  (hih  rrjv  iraaav  e?  aperrjv  v€vofiuTfi€vr)v 
hnrrihevtnv).  I  find  no  sarcasm,  much  less  malice,  in  these 
words,  as  Professor  Bury  does,  who  interprets:  "In  my 
opinion,  says  Thucydides,  Nicias  deserved  such  an  end  less 
than  any  other  Athenian,  considering  his  conventional  virtue. 
In  other  words,  a  man  of  such  conventional  virtue  was  un- 
suited  for  such  an  unconventional  end  "  {Ancient  Greek  His- 
torians, p.  119).     In  his  last  speech  to  the  army  Thucydides 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


251 


has  Nicias  say  (vii.  77,  2) :  "  My  days  have  been  passed  in 
the  performance  of  many  ordained  religious  rites,  and  of 
many  just  and  blameless  services  to  mankind  "  (Jowett  has 
**  of  many  a  religious  duty,  and  of  many  a  just  and  blame- 
less action  "). 

XXIX.  This  chapter,  again,  is  a  compound  of  material 
furnished  by  Thucydides  and  Philistus  (Introd.  p.  10).  The 
corresponding  passage  in  Thucydides  is  best  given  in  full : 
"Those  who  were  imprisoned  in  the  quarries  were  at  the 
beginning  of  their  captivity  harshly  treated  by  the  S}Tacu- 
sans.  There  were  great  numbers  of  them,  and  they  were 
crowded  in  a  deep  and  narrow  place.  At  first  the  sun  by 
day  was  still  scorching  and  suffocating,  for  they  had  no  roof 
over  their  heads,  while  the  autumn  nights  were  cold,  and  the 
extremes  of  temperature  engendered  violent  disorders.  Being 
cramped  for  room  they  had  to  do  everything  on  the  same 
spot  The  corpses  of  those  who  died  from  their  wounds, 
exposure  to  the  weather,  and  the  like,  lay  heaped  one  upon 
another.  The  smells  were  intolerable;  and  they  were  at 
the  same  time  afflicted  by  hunger  and  thirst.  During  eight 
months  they  were  allowed  only  about  half  a  pint  of  water 
and  a  pint  of  food  a  day.  Every  kind  of  misery  which  could 
befall  man  in  such  a  place  befell  them.  This  was  the  condi- 
tion of  all  the  captives  for  about  ten  weeks.  At  length  the 
Syracusans  sold  them,  with  the  exception  of  the  Athenians 
and  of  any  Sicilian  or  Italian  Greeks  who  had  sided  with 
them  in  the  war.  The  whole  number  of  the  public  prisoners 
is  not  accurately  known,  but  they  were  not  less  than  seven 
thousand  "  (vii.  87). 

The  rations  allowed  their  captives  in  the  quarries  by  the 
Syracusans  were  only  half  the  regular  rations  of  a  slave. 
The  Athenians  allowed  the  Lacedaemonians  to  send  to  the 
besieged  on  Sphacteria  "  two  Attic  quarts  of  barley-meal  for 
each  man,  and  a  pint  of  wine,  and  also  a  piece  of  meat ;  for 
an  attendant,  half  these  quantities"  (Thuc,  iv.  16, 1). 

XXIX.  1.  The  mark  of  a  horse :  an  emblem  of  Syracuse, 
as  the  owl  was  of  Athens.    The  Athenians  were  said  to  have 


250 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


I' 


XXVIII.  2.  Hermoorates  protested :  an  item  from  Phil- 
is  tus  (Introd.  p.  10). 

XXVIII.  3.  Timaeus  says :  cf,  chap.  xii.  4. 

Cleandridas :  the  guardian  and  adviser  of  the  Spartan 
king  Pleistoanax,  on  the  invasion  of  Attica  in  446.  He  was 
believed  to  have  been  bribed  by  Pericles  to  induce  Pleisto- 
anax to  withdraw.  "  When  the  army  had  withdrawn  and 
had  been  disbanded  to  their  several  cities,  the  Lacedaemo- 
nians, in  indignation,  laid  a  heavy  fine  upon  their  King,  the 
full  amount  of  which  he  was  unable  to  pay,  and  so  betook 
himself  out  of  Lacedaemon,  while  Cleandridas,  who  had  gone 
into  voluntary  exile,  was  condemned  to  death.  He  was  the 
father  of  that  Gylippus  who  overcame  the  Athenians  in 
Sicily.  And  nature  seems  to  have  imparted  covetousness  to 
the  son,  as  it  were  a  congenital  disease,  owing  to  which  he 
too,  after  noble  achievements,  was  caught  in  base  practices 
and  banished  from  Sparta  in  disgrace.  This  story,  however, 
I  have  told  at  length  in  my  life  of  Lysander  {Pericles^  xxiL  3). 
Cleandridas  betook  himself  to  Magna  Graecia,  became  a 
citizen  of  Thurii  (Thuc.,vi  104, 2),  and  distinguished  himself 
in  his  adopted  home  as  a  soldier  (Frontinus,  <S>^ra^,  ii.  3,  12). 

In  my  life  of  Lysander :  chapters  xvi.  f . 

XXVIII.  5.  The  shield  of  Nioias :  with  this  item,  pos- 
sibly taken  from  Timaeus,  Plutarch  takes  his  leave  of  Nicias. 
He  has  already,  in  xxvL  6,  anticipated  the  memorable  words 
with  which  Thucydides  takes  his  leave  of  him  (vii  86,  5) ; 
'♦  No  one  of  the  Hellenes  of  my  time  was  less  deserving  of 
so  miserable  an  end ;  for  he  lived  in  the  practice  of  every 
virtue "  ( Jowett) ;  or,  "  in  the  entire  practice  of  what  men 
regarded  as  virtue  "  (hi.h  rrjv  iraaav  h  ap€Tr)v  pevofiia-fievrjv 
hnrrihevaiv),  I  find  no  sarcasm,  much  less  malice,  in  these 
words,  as  Professor  Bury  does,  who  interprets:  "In  my 
opinion,  says  Thucydides,  Nicias  deserved  such  an  end  less 
than  any  other  Athenian,  considering  his  conventional  virtue. 
In  other  words,  a  man  of  such  conventional  virtue  was  un- 
suited  for  such  an  unconventional  end  "  {Ancient  Greek  His- 
torians,  p.  119).    In  his  last  speech  to  the  army  Thucydides 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


261 


has  Nicias  say  (viL  77,  2) :  "  My  days  have  been  passed  in 
the  performance  of  many  ordained  religious  rites,  and  of 
many  just  and  blameless  services  to  mankind  "  (Jowett  has 
"  of  many  a  religious  duty,  and  of  many  a  just  and  blame- 
less action  "). 

XXIX.  This  chapter,  again,  is  a  compound  of  material 
furnished  by  Thucydides  and  Philistus  (Introd.  p.  10).  The 
corresponding  passage  in  Thucydides  is  best  given  in  full : 
"Those  who  were  imprisoned  in  the  quarries  were  at  the 
beginning  of  their  captivity  harshly  treated  by  the  S}Tacu- 
sans.  There  were  great  numbers  of  them,  and  they  were 
crowded  in  a  deep  and  narrow  place.  At  first  the  sun  by 
day  was  still  scorching  and  suffocating,  for  they  had  no  roof 
over  their  heads,  while  the  autumn  nights  were  cold,  and  the 
extremes  of  temperature  engendered  violent  disorders.  Being 
cramped  for  room  they  had  to  do  everything  on  the  same 
spot  The  corpses  of  those  who  died  from  their  wounds, 
exposure  to  the  weather,  and  the  like,  lay  heaped  one  upon 
another.  The  smells  were  intolerable;  and  they  were  at 
the  same  time  afflicted  by  hunger  and  thirst.  During  eight 
months  they  were  allowed  only  about  half  a  pint  of  water 
and  a  pint  of  food  a  day.  Every  kind  of  misery  which  could 
befall  man  in  such  a  place  befell  them.  This  was  the  condi- 
tion of  all  the  captives  for  about  ten  weeks.  At  length  the 
Syracusans  sold  them,  with  the  exception  of  the  Athenians 
and  of  any  Sicilian  or  Italian  Greeks  who  had  sided  with 
them  in  the  war.  The  whole  number  of  the  public  prisoners 
is  not  accurately  known,  but  they  were  not  less  than  seven 
thousand  "  (vii.  87). 

The  rations  allowed  their  captives  in  the  quarries  by  the 
Syracusans  were  only  half  the  regular  rations  of  a  slave. 
The  Athenians  allowed  the  Lacedaemonians  to  send  to  the 
besieged  on  Sphacteria  "  two  Attic  quarts  of  barley-meal  for 
each  man,  and  a  pint  of  wine,  and  also  a  piece  of  meat ;  for 
an  attendant,  half  these  quantities"  (Thuc,  iv.  16, 1). 

XXIX.  1.  The  mark  of  a  horse :  an  emblem  of  Syracuse, 
as  the  owl  was  of  Athens.    The  Athenians  were  said  to  have 


252 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


V 


branded  Samian  prisoners  with  the  mark  of  an  owL     See  on 
the  Pericles,  xxvi.  3. 

XXIX.  3.  The  Caunians:  Caunns  was  a  city  of  Caria, 
belonging  to  the  Khodians.  It  joined  the  lonians  in  their 
revolt  from  Persia  in  499.  It  had  dockyards,  and  a  noted 
harbor  which  could  be  closed.  Browning  has  made  an  artis- 
tic use  of  the  incident  here  narrated  as  an  introduction  to  his 
transcription  of   the  Alcestis  of   Euripides,  in   Balaustion's 

Adventure, 

XXX.  They  say :  the  story  which  follows  has  no  author- 
ity, and  smacks  of  romantic  invention.  It  is  given  more  at 
length  by  Plutarch  in  his  De  garrulitate,  13  =  Morals,  p.  509  : 
"  It  was  a  barber  that  first  reported  the  news  of  the  great 
overthrow  which  the  Athenians  received  in  Sicily ;  for  being 
the  first  that  heard  the  relation  of  it  in  the  Piraeus,  from  a 
servant  of  one  of  those  who  had  escaped  out  of  the  battle,  he 
presently  left  his  shop  at  sixes  and  sevens,  and  flew  into  the 
city  as  fast  as  his  heels  could  carry  him, 

*  For  fear  some  other  should  the  honor  claim 
Of  being  first,  when  he  but  second  came '  (Jliad,  xxii.  207). 

Now  you  may  be  sure  that  the  first  spreader  of  this  news 
caused  a  great  hubbub  in  the  city,  insomuch  that  the  people, 
thronging  together  in  th,e  market-place,  made  diligent  en- 
quiry for  the  first  divulger.  Presently  the  barber  was 
brought  by  head  and  shoulders  to  the  crowd,  and  examined ; 
but  he  could  give  no  account  of  his  author,  only  one  that  he 
never  saw  or  knew  in  his  life  before  had  told  him  the  news. 
Which  so  incensed  the  multitude,  that  they  immediately 
cried  out,  *  To  the  rack  with  the  traitor,  tie  the  lying  rascal 
neck  and  heels  together.  This  is  a  mere  story  of  the  rogue's 
own  making.  Who  heard  it  ?  Who  gave  any  credit  to  it 
beside  himself  ? '  At  the  same  instant  the  wheel  was  brought 
out,  and  the  poor  barber  stretched  upon  it,  —  not  to  his  ease, 
you  may  be  sure.  And  then  it  was,  and  not  before,  that  the 
news  of  the  defeat  was  confirmed  by  several  that  had  made 
a  hard  shift  to  escape  the  slaughter.    Upon  which  the  people 


NOTES  ON  THE  NICIAS 


253 


scattered  every  one  to  his  own  home,  to  make  their  private 
lamentation  for  their  particular  losses,  leaving  the  unfortu- 
nate barber  bound  fast  to  the  wheel ;  in  which  condition  he 
continued  till  late  in  the  evening,  before  he  was  let  loose. 
Nor  would  this  reform  the  impertinent  fool ;  for  no  sooner 
was  he  at  liberty  but  he  would  needs  be  enquiring  of  the 
executioner,  what  news,  and  what  was  reported  of  the  man- 
ner of  Nicias  the  general's  being  slain.  So  inexpugnable 
and  incorrigible  a  vice  is  loquacity." 

Another  story  connected  with  the  arrival  of  the  news  at 
Athens  is  told  by  Athenaeus  (ix.  p.  407)  on  the  authority  of 
Chamaeleon  of  Pontus,  an  immediate  disciple  of  Aristotle. 
Hegemon,  the  famous  inventor  of  parody,  waa  reciting  in  the 
theater  his  parody  of  the  Gigantomachy,  and  was  moving 
the  Athenians  to  excessive  laughter,  when  the  news  was 
brought  to  the  audience  of  the  disaster  in  SicUy.  "  No  one 
left  his  place,  although  almost  every  one  had  lost  kindred. 
They  veiled  their  faces  and  wept  in  secret,  but  did  not  leave 
their  places,  that  men  from  other  cities  who  were  at  the 
spectacle  might  not  see  that  they  were  overwhelmed  by  their 
calamity.  And  they  continued  to  listen  to  the  recital,  but 
Hegemon,  when  he  heard  the  news,  decided  to  hold  his 

peace." 

XXX.  2.  Messengers  came :  members  of  the  expedition 
who  had  made  their  escape  from  Sicily.  "The  news  was 
brought  to  Athens,  but  the  Athenians  could  not  beUeve  that 
the  armament  had  been  so  completely  annihilated,  although 
they  had  the  positive  assurances  of  the  very  soldiers  who  had 
escaped  from  the  scene  of  action.  At  last  they  knew  the 
truth ;  and  then  they  were  furious  with  the  orators  who  had 
joined  in  promoting  the  expedition  —  as  if  they  had  not 
voted  it  themselves  —  and  with  the  soothsayers,  and  prophets, 
and  all  who  by  the  influence  of  religion  had  at  the  time  m- 
spired  them  with  the  belief  that  they  would  conquer  Sicily" 
(Thuc.,  viii.  1, 1). 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADE8 


% 


fssoMamBsmmm 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADE8 

I.  1.  The  family  of  Aloibiades:  on  his  father's  side 
Alcibiades  belonged  to  the  noble  family  of  the  Eupa- 
tridae  (a  specific  clan  name  to  be  distinguished  from  the 
same  name  used  generically  for  all  Athenians  of  noble  birth), 
and  his  grandfather,  Alcibiades  the  Elder,  had  been  associ- 
ated with  Cleisthenes  the  reformer  in  the  expulsion  of  the 
Peisistratidae  (510  B.  c,  cf.  Isoc,  xvi  26).  For  political 
reasons  this  Alcibiades  renounced  the  office  of  Proxenus,  or 
Consul  Resident,  for  Sparta  at  Athens,  which  his  more 
famous  grandson  tried  to  resume  (Thuc.,  v.  43,  2).  The 
name  itself  was  Spartan,  and  had  early  passed  over  into  the 
Athenian  family  (Thuc,  viiL  6,  3). 

To  Eurysaces:  in  the  Alcibiudes  /.,  a  dialogue  attributed 
to  Plato,  p.  121,  Socrates  is  made  to  draw  from  Alcibiades 
the  boast  that  his  race  goes  "  back  to  Eurysaces,  and  he  to 
Zeus".  To  this  Socrates  playfully  rejoins,  *'  And  mine,  noble 
Alcibiades,  to  Daedalus,  and  he  to  Hephaestus,  son  of  Zeus." 
But  there  was  no  noble  family  of  Eurysacidae  at  Athens, 
as  some  have  thought  (see  Toepfifer,  Attische  Genealogie, 
pp.  175  if.,  278). 

An  Alcmaeonid ....  Meffades :  this  was  the  most  famous, 
and  at  different  times  the  most  powerful  clan  at  Athens,  suc- 
cessfully rivalling  that  of  the  Philaldae.  To  the  latter  Cimon 
belonged,  to  the  former  Pericles.  It  traced  its  origin  through 
an  Alcmaeon  to  Neleus,  the  father  of  the  Homeric  Nestor. 
Megacles  was  the  third  of  that  name  in  the  family  line,  the 
nephew  of  Cleisthenes  the  reformer,  and  brother  of  Agariste 
the  mother  of  Pericles. 

At  his  own  cost :  the  State  usually  fiunished  the  trier- 
arch  with  hull,  mast,  and  pay  and  rations  for  the  crew. 

At  Artemisium:  in  480  b.g.  At  the  close  of  the  third 
day  of  fighting  the  Persian  and  Greek  fleets  drew  apart  for 


-CBS 


ii 


258 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


the  night.  "  On  the  side  of  the  Greeks  the  Athenians  bore 
ofif  the  meed  of  valour;  and  among  them  the  most  distin- 
guished was  Cleinias,  the  son  of  Alcibiades,  who  served  at 
his  own  charge  with  two  hundred  men,  on  board  a  vessel 
which  he  had  himself  furnished  *'  (Herod.,  viiL  17). 

At  Coroneia:  In  447  B.  c,  the  Athenians  under  Tolmides 
invaded  Boeotia,  but  were  most  disastrously  defeated.  See 
the  Pericles,  xviii.,  and  cf.  Isoc,  xvL  28 ;  Plato,  Alcibiades  /., 
p.  112. 

His  near  kinsznen :  they  were  first  cousins  once  removed, 
through  Agariste,  the  mother  of  Pericles,  as  shown  by  the 
following  genealogical  table. 

Megacles  II.  +  Agariste  (d.  of  Cleisthenes  of  Sicyon) 


Cleisthenes  (the  Reformer) 


1 

Hippocrates 


Megacles  III. 


Cleinias  +  Deinomache 


Agariste  +  Xanthippos 


Pericles      Ariphron 


Alcibiades 


From  Plato's  Protagoras,  p.  320,  we  learn  that  Cleinias,  the 
younger  brother  of  Alcibiades,  was  also  a  ward  of  Pericles, 
who  placed  him  with  Ariphron  to  be  educated,  fearing  that 
he  would  be  corrupted  by  Alcibiades.  "But  before  six 
months  had  elapsed,  Ariphron  sent  him  back,  not  know- 
ing what  to  do  with  him." 

I.  2.  The  favor  whioh  Socrates  showed  him:  if  the 
story  told  by  Xenophon  {Mem.  i  2,  40)  is  authentic,  Alci- 
biades was  a  follower  of  Socrates  shortly  before  the  death  of 
Pericles  (429  b.  c),  and  Plato  {Symp,  p.  215  A)  represents 
him  as  still  a  warm  admirer  of  the  Master  more  than  a  dozen 
years  later,  just  before  the  Sicilian  expedition.  But  Socrates 
carefully  disavowed  being  any  man's  teacher,  and  never  spoke 
of  his  "  pupils  ",  but  of  his  "  associates  ". 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


259 


Prominent  men :  the  first  three  of  the  list  were  associated 
in  the  Sicilian  expedition  (see  the  Nieias,  xviii  2 ;  xx.  1  and 
passim).  Phormio  served  Athens  successfully  as  general  on 
various  occasions  from  440  to  429.  He  is  most  famous  for 
his  remarkable  naval  victories  in  the  Corinthian  gulf  during 
the  last  year.  These  are  vividly  described  by  Thucydides 
(iL  83-92).  Thrasybulus  came  into  prominence  as  a  naval 
commander  after  the  Sicilian  expedition,  and  was  the  hero  of 
the  restoration  of  the  democracy  in  403,  after  the  rule  of  the 
"  Thirty  Tyrants  ".    For  Theramenes,  see  on  the  Nicias,  iL  1. 

His  nurse  ....  a  Spartan  woman:  as  a  result  of  the 
athletic  training  of  Spartan  women,  they  were  acknowledged 
to  be  the  most  beautiful  and  healthy  in  Greece,  and  were  gen- 
erally sought  for  by  well-to-do  families  as  nurses  for  chil- 
dren. They  gave  the  limbs  of  infants  free  play,  instead  of 
wrapping  them  tightly  in  swaddling  bands. 

His  tutor :  the  iraiSaytoyo^:,  or  Greek  tutor,  was  merely  a 
sort  of  guardian  of  the  boy,  conducting  him  to  and  from 
school  or  palaestra,  and  holding  him  to  his  regimen.  See 
Plato's  Lysis,  p.  223,  for  a  picture  of  tutors  in  function.  '*  The 
law",  says  St.  Paul  (Gal.  iiL  24),  "was  our  7raiBaya>y<k,*' 
our  tutor,  "  to  bring  us  unto  CJhrist "  the  teacher. 

Antisthenes :  one  of  the  most  devoted  followers  of  Soc- 
rates, and,  after  his  Master's  death,  the  foimder  of  the  Cynic 
school  of  philosophy.  According  to  Diogenes  Laertius  (iL 
7,  3)  he  was  the  author  of  a  dialogue  entitled  Alcibiades,  and 
in  one  of  his  works  entitled  Cyrus  he  is  known  to  have 
vehemently  attacked  Alcibiades  (Athen.,  p.  220  c). 

Plato :  **  whereas  Pericles  gave  you,  Alcibiades,  for  a  tutor 
Zopyrus  the  Thracian,  a  slave  of  his  who  was  past  all  other 
work  "  (Alcibiades  L,  p.  122,  Jowett's  trans.). 

L  3.  The  saying  of  Euripides:  the  story  is  given  in 
Aelian,  Var.  Hist,  xiii.  4.  At  a  symposium  given  by  Arch- 
elaus  king  of  Macedon,  Euripides,  who  was  reclining  on  a 
couch  with  Agathon  the  tragic  poet,  then  forty  years  of 
age,  embraced  and  kissed  him.  When  Archelaus  asked  if 
he  was  still  a  lover  of  Agathon,  Euripides  answered,  "  Yes 


260 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADE8 


indeed !  It  is  not  the  spring  time  only  of  beauty  which  is 
very  beautiful,  but  also  the  autumn."  In  his  Apophtheg, 
reg,  et  imp,,  p.  177,  telling  the  same  story,  Plutarch  has 
Archelaus  say  to  his  friends,  anent  the  action  of  Euripides, 
**  Be  not  surprised ;  beauty's  autumn,  too,  is  beautiful.* 

The  case  with  Aloibiades :  the  Protagoras  of  Plato  opens 
thus :  "  Where  do  you  come  from,  Socrates  ?  And  yet  I  need 
hardly  ask  the  question,  as  I  know  that  you  have  been  in 
chase  of  the  fair  Alcibiades.  I  saw  him  the  day  before 
yesterday;  and  he  had  got  a  beard  like  a  man,  —  and  he 
is  a  man,  as  I  may  tell  you  in  your  ear.  But  I  thought 
that  he  was  still  very  charming."  And  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Alcibiades  L  (p.  104)  Socrates  is  made  to  say  to 
Alcibiades:  "You  think  that  you  are  the  fairest  and  tall- 
est of  the  citizens,  and  this  every  one  who  has  eyes  sees 
to  be  true."  Antisthenes,  who  was  no  friend  of  Alcibiades 
(see  on  §  2),  said  he  was  vigorous  and  manly,  undisciplined 
and  bold,  and  fair  to  look  upon  in  every  period  of  his  life 
(Athen.,  p.  534  c). 

I.  4.  Aristophanes  notices  this  lisp :  in  the  Wasps  (422 
B.  c),  w.  44  ff.  Sosias  is  telling  his  fellow  slave,  Xanthias, 
his  wonderful  vision  of  Cleon  speaking  to  the  Athenians  in 
the  Pynx :  — 

(Sosias)        *'  Methought  beside  him,  on  the  ground,  I  saw 
Theorus  seated,  with  a  raven's  head. 
Then  Alcibiades  lisped  out  to  me, 
Owemarlc  t  Theocums  has  a  cwaverCs  head. 

(Xanthias)    Well  lisped !  and  rightly,  Alcibiades  !  **     (Rogers'  trans.) 

The  "lisp"  of  Alcibiades  turned  his  r's  into  Ts,  and  the  play 
is  on  the  Greek  words  Kopa^,  raven,  and  K^ka^,  flatterer, — 
or  craven,  as  the  exigencies  of  translation  will  have  it.  The- 
orus is  thus  pilloried  as  one  of  the  innumerable  flatterers  and 
minions  of  the  great  demagogue,  Cleon. 

Arohippus:  a  minor  poet  of  Old  CJomedy.  His  most 
famous  play  was  "The  Fishes",  in  which  the  Athenians,  as 
excessive  eaters  of  fish,  were  attacked  and  brought  to  terms 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


261 


by  the  animals  themselves.  The  passage  which  is  partly 
paraphrased  and  partly  quoted  here,  cannot  be  assigned  to 
any  definite  play.     See  Kock,  Com.  Att  Frag.,  L  p.  688. 

The  son  of  Alcibiades :  by  Hipparete,  daughter  of  Hip- 
ponicus  (chap,  viii  2-4).  He  seems  to  have  been  dissolute 
and  weak.  We  have  an  oration  of  Isocrates  in  his  defense 
(xvL) ;  and  two  orations  of  Lysias  attacking  him  for  military 
cowardice  (xiv.  and  xv.).  These  are  described  more  at  length 
in  the  Introduction,  p.  3.  He  came  into  unenviable  po- 
litical notice  for  a  short  time  during  the  Corinthian  war  (395- 
390  B.  c). 

II.  2.  The  source  of  the  wrestling  story  is  unknown. 
Plutarch  has  it  again  in  Apophtheg.  reg.  et  imp.,  p.  186  D,  and 
also,  of  an  unnamed  Spartan,  in  Apophtheg.  Lacon.,  p.  234  E. 

IL  3.  The  knuckle-bones  story  is  found  only  here.  The 
astragalus,  or  knuckle-bone,  came  from  the  hind  ankle-joint 
of  such  doven-footed  animals  as  sheep  and  goats,  and  owing 
to  their  peculiar  squareness  and  smoothness,  were  used  as 
playthings  by  children,  and  as  dice  by  men,  women,  and 
children.     Cf.  the  Alcibiades  L,  p.  110. 

II.  4.  Refused  to  play  the  flute :   in  the  Alcibiades  /., 
p.  106,  Socrates  says, "  According  to  my  recollection,  Alci- 
biades, you  learned  the  arts  of  writing,  of  playing  on  the 
lyre,  and  of  wrestling;  the  flute  you  never  would  learn." 
The  Boeotians,  and  especially  the  Thebans,  led  all  Greece  in 
the  art  of  flute-playing.    "Their  lawgivers,"  says  Plutarch 
(Pelopidas,  xix.),  "designing   to   soften,  whilst  they  were 
young,  their  natural  fierceness,  brought  the  pipe  into  great 
esteem,  both  in  serious  and  sportive  occasions."    The  Athe- 
nians, on  the  other  hand,  held  that  the  music  of  the  flute 
was  too  exciting,  and  its  moral  efiects,  therefore,  bad.   Much, 
however,  must  have  depended  on  the  style  of  music  played. 
The  objection  of  Alcibiades,  in  this  story,  to  the  art,  is  wholly 
aesthetic.    See  W.  Rhys  Roberts,  Ancient  Boeotians,  pp.  33  ff. 
IL  6.  Athena ....  Apollo,  etc. :  "  Athena  is  said  to  have 
invented  the  pipes  or  double  flute.    But  as  she  played  on 
them  in  the  forest  of  Mt.  Ida,  she  saw  her  puffed  and  swollen 


262 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


263 


\ . 


cheeks  reflected  in  the  water  of  a  spring.  Disgusted  at  the 
sight,  she  threw  away  the  pipes  with  a  curse  on  whoever 
should  pick  them  up.  They  were  found  by  the  satyr  Mar- 
syas,  who  picked  them  up  and  practiced  on  them.  At  last 
he  challenged  Apollo  to  a  musical  contest,  he  to  play  on  his 
flutes,  and  Apollo  to  play  on  his  lyre.  Being  vanquished, 
Marsyas  was  tied  up  to  a  pine-tree  and  flayed  alive  "  (Frazer, 
on  Pausanias,  i.  24, 1  and  ii.  7, 9).  The  skin  of  Marsyas  was 
to  be  seen  in  historical  times  at  Celaenae  in  Phrygia  (Herod., 
vii.  26 ;  Xen.,  Anal.  L  2,  8). 

III.  Antiphon :  the  Rhamnusian.  See  on  the  Nidas,  vL  1. 
An  abusive  oration  of  his  against  Alcibiades  is  cited  in 
Athenaeus,  p.  525  b.  It  was  in  all  probability  a  fabrication, 
by  some  unknown  sophist,  dating  from  about  the  middle  of 
the  fourth  century  B.  c,  when  the  growing  cult  of  Alcibiades' 
memory  roused  much  hostile  literary  activity.  The  oration 
was  falsely  attributed  by  its  unknown  author  to  Antiphon, 
but  has  not  come  down  to  us  among  his  writings,  as  the  sim- 
ilar oration  against  Alcibiades  attributed  to  Andocides  has. 
See  on  the  Nicias,  xi.  7,  and  Bruns,  Literarisches  Fortraet, 

pp.  510  f. 

Ariphron :  one  of  his  guardians  (i.  1). 

If  he  is  dead,  etc.:  this  should  perhaps  be  added  to  the  list 
of  "  memorable  sayings  "  attributed  to  Pericles,  given  in  the 
note  on  the  Pericles,  viii  6. 

IV.  1.  By  flattery  and  favor:  ''his  influence  in  the 
state  and  among  the  allies  exposed  him  to  the  corruption 
of  many  an  adept  in  the  art  of  flattery "  (Xen.,  Mem.,  i. 

2,  24). 

IV.  2.  That  he  ciuinot  be  reached  by  .  .  .  philosophy: 

« that  philosophic  should  not  take  holde  on  him  with  her  free, 
severe,  and  quicke  reasons  "  (North). 

Saw  all  that  was  in  Soorates  cuid  olave  to  him :  so  Plato 
always  represents  the  attachment  of  Alcibiades  to  Socrates, 
particulariy  in  the  long  and  ardent,  eulogium  of  Socrates 
which  he  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Alcibiades  in  the  Sym- 
posium,  pp.  215  ff:     A  different  idea  is  given  by  Xenophon 


i  {Mtm,  i.  2, 12-48),  in  rescuing  the  memory  of  Socrates  from 
the  odium  of  his  having  been  the  teacher  of  Critias  and  Alci- 
biades. Neither  of  these  young  men,  according  to  Xeno- 
phon, associated  with  Socrates  because  they  f  oimd  him  or  the 
life  he  led  really  pleasing  to  them.  Bather,  they  sought 
thereby  to  make  their  own  his  marvelous  powers  of  argu- 
ment, his  independence  and  self-control,  that  they  might 
prevail  among  professed  politicians,  and  obtain  the  headship 
of  the  state.  When  Alcibiades  can  out-argue  Pericles,  he 
has  no  further  use  for  Socrates.  "  As  soon  as  the  desired 
superiority  over  the  politicians  of  the  day  seemed  to  be  at- 
tained, Critias  and  Alcibiades  turned  their  backs  on  Socrates. 
They  found  his  society  imattractive,  not  to  speak  of  the  an- 
noyance of  being  cross-questioned  on  their  own  shortcom- 
ings. Forthwith  they  devoted  themselves  to  those  affairs  of 
state  but  for  which  they  would  never  have  come  near  him 
at  alL  "  Plato's  conception  of  the  relation  between  Socrates 
and  Alcibiades  is  far  more  reasonable.  In  youth  and  early 
manhood  Alcibiades  may  well  have  felt  with  Socrates  that 
virtue,  rather  than  royal  power,  must  be  the  aim  of  individ- 
uals or  states,  if  they  would  be  happy  (Plato,  Alcibiades  L 
p.  135),  and  may  have  sincerely  said  to  him :  "  From  this  day 
forward,  I  must  and  will  follow  you  as  you  have  followed 
me ;  I  will  be  the  disciple,  and  you  shall  be  my  master." 
Afterwards,  the  deceitfulness  of  ambition  and  the  cares  of 
the  world  brought  on  estrangement  from  and  neglect  of  the 
A-  great  teacher. 

IV.  3.  He  orouohed,  etc.:  this  iambic  trimeter,  of  un- 
known authorship,  is  cited  by  Plutarch  also  in  the  Pelopidas, 
xxix,  and  the  Amatoriiis,  IS  =:^  Morals,  p.  762  F. 

rV.  4.  As  Plato  says :  "  when  he  is  with  the  lover,  both 
cease  from  their  pain,  but  when  he  is  away,  then  he  longs  as 
he  is  longed  for,  and  has  love's  image,  love  for  love  (Anteros), 
lodging  in  his  breast"  {Phaedrus,  p.  255). 

Tenting  with  Socrates:  during  an  expedition  to  Potidaea, 
432/431  B.  c.  (Thuc,  L  64,  2) .  "All  this  ",  Alcibiades  is  made 
to  say  in  the  Symposium,  p.  219  E, "  happened  before  he  and  I 


■^s 


'->  t 


»ar<MH#«iHK*f  %r«,«f  M^^lYT"**'  "--  •  ->• 


»  a      »(   -•- 1   -  • 


264 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


265 


went  on  the  expedition  to  Potidaea ;  there  we  messed  to- 
gether."   See  on  vii.  3. 

IV.  5  f.  Anytus:  a  wealthy  tanner,  who  became  prom- 
inent as  general  and  politician  during  the  last  decade  of  the 
century.  He  once  belonged  to  the  circle  of  Socrates,  but 
became  embittered  against  the  Master,  and  at  last,  with 
Meletus  and  Lycon,  headed  the  prosecution  which  resulted 
in  his  death  (399) .  When  the  Athenian  people  repented  of 
this  judicial  murder,  Anytus  was  banished,  and  betook  him- 
self to  Heracleia,  on  the  Euxine  sea,  where  he  is  said  to  have 
been  stoned  to  death  by  the  enraged  populace.  This  story  of 
Alcibiades'  drunken  frolic  at  his  house  is  told  by  Plutarch 
also  in  the  Amatorius,  17  =  Morals,  p.  762  C,  and  by  Satyrud 
in  Athenaeus,  p.  534  e,  f.  In  this  last  version,  it  is  to 
Thrasyllus,  an  indigent  companion,  that  Alcibiades  has  the 
golden  booty  carried.    For  Satyrus,  see  on  xii.  1. 

V.  A  variant  of  this  story,  with  much  less  detail,  is  found 
in  the  comments  of  Proclus  (412-485  A.  d.)  on  Plato's  Alci- 
Hades  /.  (p.  108) :  *'  To  a  lover  of  his  who  sold  his  farm  for 
a  hundred  drachmas,  Alcibiades,  they  say,  managed  to  have 
ten  talents  given  by  the  farmers  of  the  public  revenues." 
Here  the  money  values  differ  widely  from  those  which  Plu- 
tarch gives.  The  gold  coin  most  commonly  called  a  stater 
was  worth  twenty  drachmas  (silver  coins  of  about  the  value 
of  a  franc),  and  corresponded  to  the  modem  napoleon.  It 
took  three  hundred  of  them  to  make  the  value  of  a  talent. 
The  talent  was  equivalent  to  about  Si 200,  or  £250,  though 
the  purchasing  power  of  money  was  at  least  five  times  greater 
then  than  now.  The  farmers  of  the  public  revenues,  in  this 
case,  probably,  were  thought  of  as  men  who  leased  certain 
public  lands.  The  anecdote  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  source 
for  exact  economic  detail  The  best  description  of  the  finan- 
cial system  of  Pericles  is  now  to  be  found  in  Ed.  Meyer's 
Gesch,  d.  Alt,  iv.  pp.  28  fif. 

V.  1.  A  resident  alien:  a  metic  (fieroiKO^),  enjoyed  com- 
mercial privileges,  paid  certain  taxes  and  performed  many 
civic  duties,  but  had  no  civic  rights.     See  Grardner-Jevons, 


^A" 


Manual  of  Greek  Antiquities,  pp.  454  fif.  In  the  summer  of 
431,  when  the  entire  Athenian  force,  including  the  metics, 
was  called  into  service,  the  citizen  hoplites  numbered  thir- 
teen thousand,  and  the  metic  hoplites  three  thousand  (Thuc.^ 
1131). 

VI.  1.  Wrung  his  heart,  etc.:  "Thus  Socrates  humbled 
Alcibiades,  forced  him  into  unfeigned  tears,  and  turned  his 
heart,  when  he  argued  the  case  with  him  "  (Plutarch,  Quomodo 
adulator  etc.,  2d  =  Morals,  p.  69  F).  See  also  the  passages 
from  Plato's  Symposium  cited  below  on  §  4. 

Hunted  down  by  him*,  this  is  also  the  metaphor  of  Plato 
in  the  passage  from  the  opening  of  the  Protagoras  cited  on 

L3. 

VI.  2.  Gleanthes:  of  Assos  in  the  Troad,an  ardent  dev- 
otee of  philosophy  in  spite  of  poverty  (300-220  B.  c),  was 
long  a  disciple  of  Zeno,  the  founder  of  the  Stoic  school  at 
Athens,  and  succeeded  him  about  260  b.  c.  as  head  of  the 
school  He  was  a  man  of  the  simplest  life  and  sternest 
morality.    Of  all  his  writings  only  a  striking  hymn  to  Zeus 

is  still  extant. 

Of  which  Thucydides  speaks:  in  his  terse  characteriza- 
tion of  Alcibiades  (vi  15).  **  The  people  feared  the  extremes 
to  which  he  carried  his  lawless  self-indulgence." 

VI.  4.  As  iron,  etc.:  ** For  as  we  first  soften  iron  in  the 
fire  and  then  dip  it  in  water,  to  harden  it  into  a  due  con- 
sistence ;  so,  after  we  have  warmed  and  mollified  our  friend 
by  a  just  commendation  of  his  virtues,  we  may  then  safely 
temper  him  with  a  moderate  reprehension  of  his  vices  "  (Plu- 
tarch, Qtu)mx)do  adulator  etc,,  36  =  Morals,  p.  73  CJ). 

In  the  Symposium  of  Plato  (pp.  215  f.),  Alcibiades  is 
made  to  say  to,  and  of,  Socrates,  *'  When  we  hear  any  other 
speaker,  even  a  very  good  one,  his  words  produce  absolutely 
no  efifect  upon  us  in  comparison,  whereas  the  very  fragments 
of  you  and  your  words,  even  at  second  hand,  and  however 
imperfectly  repeated,  amaze  and  possess  the  souls  of  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  who  comes  within  hearing  of  them. 
.  .  .  My  heart  leaps  within  me  more  than  that  of  any  Cory- 


t 

I 


^^v»  V 1%  ^Am  4*m  *  sx  ■ 


>  ,.v 
HP««HMl 


0t  A  '-^     •*.-«..  ♦• 


►#•»•' 


266 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


bantian  reveller,  and  my  eyes  rain  tears  when  I  hear  them. 
.  .  .  He  is  the  only  person  who  ever  made  me  ashamed,  which 
you  might  not  think  to  be  my  nature,  and  there  is  no  one 
else  who  does  the  same.  For  I  know  that  I  cannot  answer 
him  or  say  that  I  ought  not  to  do  as  he  bids,  but  when  I 
leave  his  presence  the  love  of  popularity  gets  the  better 
of  me." 

VII.  1.  The  first  of  the  two  stories  in  this  paragraph  is 
told  by  Plutarch  also  in  his  Apophthegmata  reg.  et  imp,, 
p.  186  E,  where,  however,  more  correctly,  it  is  a  rhapsody 
of  the  Iliad  for  which  Alcibiades  asks. 

VII.  2.  This  story  ia  also  told  by  Plutarch  in  the  same 
place  as  the  first,  and  as  it  is  told  here.  A  much  more  dra- 
matic form  of  it  is  foimd  in  Diodorus  (Ephorus),  xii.  38,  3. 
Alcibiades  finds  Pericles  in  despair  over  the  accounts  which 
he  has  been  bidden  to  put  in,  and  advises  him  to  devise  some 
way  of  not  putting  them  in  at  all ;  whereupon  Pericles  plunges 
his  country  into  the  Peloponnesian  war  to  distract  attention 
from  his  accounts !  This  form  of  the  story  is  found  also  in 
Valerius  Maximus,  iii.  1,  3,  with  the  additional  detail  that  it 
was  the  accounts  for  expenditures  on  the  Propylaea  which 
had  been  demanded  of  Pericles.  For  the  motives  of 
Pericles  in  favoring  the  Peloponnesian  war,  see  the  Pericles, 
zxzii.  3. 

VII.  3.  The  campaign  of  Potidaea:  see  on  iv.  4  In 
the  Symposium  of  Plato  (p.  220),  Alcibiades  is  made  to  say 
of  Socrates,  "I  will  also  tell,  if  you  please — and  indeed  I 
am  bound  to  tell  —  of  his  courage  in  battle ;  for  who  but  he 
saved  my  life  ?  Now  this  was  the  engagement  in  which  I 
received  the  prize  of  valour :  for  I  was  woimded  and  he  would 
not  leave  me,  but  he  rescued  me  and  my  arms ;  and  he  ought 
to  have  received  the  prize  of  valour  which  the  generals  wanted 
to  confer  on  me  partly  on  account  of  my  rank,  and  I  told 
them  so  (this  Socrates  will  not  impeach  or  deny),  but  he  was 
more  eager  than  the  generals  that  I  and  not  he  should  have 
the  prize."  Cf,  also  the  opening  of  the  Charmides,  p.  153. 
In  Isoc.  xvi.  29  there  is  no  mention  of  Socrates,  and  Athenaeus 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


267 


has  a  long  tirade  against  the  credibility  of  Plato's  testimony 
to  the  soldierly  exploits  of  the  Master  (p.  215). 

VII.  4.  The  battle  of  Delixim:  see  on  the  Mdas,  vi.  3. 
Continuing  the  citation  from  Plato's  Symposium  in  the  preced- 
ing note,  Alcibiades  says,"  There  was  another  occasion  on  which 
his  behaviour  was  very  noticeable  —  in  the  flight  of  the  army 
after  the  battle  of  Delium,  where  he  served  among  the  heavy- 
armed,  and  I  had  a  better  opportunity  of  seeing  him  than  at 
Potidaea,  as  I  was  myself  on  horseback,  and  therefore  com- 
paratively out  of  danger.  He  and  Laches  were  retreating  as 
the  troops  were  in  flight,  and  I  met  them  and  told  them  not 
to  be  discouraged,  and  promised  to  remain  with  them.  And 
there  you  might  see  him,  just  as  he  is  in  the  streets  of  Athens, 
stalking  like  a  pelican,  and  rolling  his  eyes,  calmly  contem- 
plating enemies  as  well  as  friends,  and  making  very  intelli- 
gible to  anybody,  even  from  a  distance,  that  whoever  attacked 
him  would  be  likely  to  meet  with  a  stout  resistance ;  and  in 
this  way  he  and  his  companion  escaped  —  for  persons  of  this 
class  are  never  touched  in  war ;  those  only  are  pursued  who 
are  running  away  headlong.  I  particularly  observed  how  su- 
perior he  was  to  Laches  in  presence  of  mind."  In  Plato's 
Laches,  p.  181,  Laches  says  Socrates  was  his  companion  in 
the  retreat  from  Delium,  and  highly  praises  his  bravery.  And 
in  Plato's  Apology,  p.  28  e,  Socrates  speaks  of  his  serving  also 
in  the  campaign  against  Amphipolis,  in  422.    See  the  Introd., 

p.  11. 

VIII.  1.  Hipponioos:  the  third  of  the  name  in  this 
wealthy  family.  He  is  mentioned  by  Thucydides  (iii.  91) 
as  a  general  who  successfully  cooperated  with  Nicias  in  an 
incursion  into  the  territory  of  Tanagra,  in  Boeotia,  in  426. 
According  to  [Pseudo-]Andocides,  iv.  13,  he  was  killed  at 
the  battle  of  Delium,  in  424  (see  on  the  Nicias,  vi  3),  serving 
there  also  as  general.  His  father,  CaUias  II.,  bore  the  sur- 
name of  "  Pit-wealthy  "  (see  on  the  Aristides,  v.  4) ;  his  son, 
Callias  III.,  dissipated  the  vast  wealth  of  the  family  on  soph- 
ists, flatterers,  and  women.  It  is  at  his  house  that  the  scene 
is  laid  in  Plato's  Protagoras  and  Xenophon's  Symposium. 


■li»Nfclft  >«>ll< 


•  ».    •  -- 


i**.*_«^»<— «.  w-»  1   .«  >♦"-»»..«  >«■.«—' 


268 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


269 


VIIL  2-4.  Some  say :  that  Callias  and  not  Hipponicus 
gave  Hipparete  to  Alcibiades  in  marriage^  looks  like  an  un- 
warranted inference  from  the  language  of  [Pseudo-]Andoc- 
ides  in  iv.  13-15,  where  the  details  of  this  and  the  two 
following  paragraphs  are  to  be  found.  The  story  of  §  1  is 
not  now  to  be  found  elsewhere.  For  the  character  of  the 
oration  against  Alcibiades  attributed  to  Andocides,  see  on 

the  NiciaSy  xi  7. 

A  dowry  of  ten  talents :  about  SI 2000,  or  £2500  (see  on 
v.),  an  enormous  dowry,  as  dowries  went.  The  state  awarded 
the  daughters  of  Aristides  a  dowry  of  half  a  talent  each  (see 
on  the  Aristides f  xxviL  1). 

VIII.  5.  This  paragraph  is  evidently  Plutarch's  own  de- 
fense, and  a  questionable  one,  of  Alcibiades'  conduct. 
[Pseudo-]Andocides  calls  it  a  shameless  defiance  of  the  mag- 
istrates, the  laws,  and  his  fellow  citizens. 

IX.  This  anecdote  is  found  also,  in  briefer  form,  in  Plu- 
tarch's Apophth.  reg.  et.  imp.,  p.  186  D.  There,  however,  the 
price  of  the  dog  is  put  at  6000  drachmas,  or  a  talent.  In  re-tell- 
ing the  story  Plutarch  has  increased  the  sum  to  seventy 
minas.  or  7000  drachmas.  This  is  the  way  with  good  story- 
tellers. 

Three  obols  was  a  low  living  wage  at  Athens  for  a  man  of 
family.  The  obol  corresponded  closely  to  the  English  penny, 
though  it  had  several  times  its  purchasing  power,  as  did  all 
ancient  money  when  compared  with  sums  equivalent  now. 
There  were  six  obob  in  a  drachma,  one  hundred  drachmas 
in  a  mina,  and  sixty  minas  in  a  talent 

X.  1.  Contributions  to  the  state:  aside  from  the  regular 
public  services,  or  **  liturgies ",  imposed  by  the  state  upon 
wealthy  citizens  (see  on  the  Nicias,  iii.  2),  voluntary  contribu- 
tions of  money,  weapons,  or  ships  were  often  called  for  in 
the  public  assembly,  when  the  expenses  of  the  state  were 
greater  than  its  revenue.  "  Those  who  were  willing  to  con- 
tribute then  rose  and  mentioned  what  they  would  give; 
while  those  who  were  unwilling  to  give  anything  remained 
silent  or  retired  privately  from  the  assembly.    The  names  of 


/ 


those  who  had  promised  to  contribute,  together  with  the 
amount  of  their  contributions,  were  written  on  tablets,  which 
were  placed  before  the  statues  of  the  Eponymi  [statues  of 
the  heroes  from  whom  the  ten  Athenian  tribes  were  named, 
standing  near  the  CJouncil  House  in  the  market  place],  where 
they  remained  till  the  amount  was  paid  "  (Smith's  Dictionary 
of  Antiquities,  3d  ed.,  art.  Epidoseis ;  see  also  Boeckh's 
Staatshaushaltung,  i.  *  pp.  685  f .).  The  "  Mean  Man "  of 
Theophrastus  (Char,  xxv.,  Jebb), "  when  subscriptions  for  the 
treasury  are  being  made,  will  rise  in  silence  from  his  place 
in  the  Ecclesia,  and  go  out  from  the  midst." 

Made  a  contribution :  much  later  forms  of  the  story  (Pro- 
clus  on  Plato,  Alcibiades  L  p.  110,  cited  by  Baehr)  give  the 
amount  as  ten  talents,  and  make  Alcibiades  the  merest  boy 
at  the  time.  Plutarch  alludes  to  the  incident  of  the  quail 
in  the  Praec,  reip.  ger,,  3  =  Morals,  p.  799  D,  as  though  Al- 
cibiades were  making  a  speech  at  the  time.   Cf.  chap,  xvi  3. 

The  quail  which  he  was  carrying :  quail-  and  cock-fights 
were  very  popular  at  Athens,  and  the  birds  were  trained 
with  the  greatest  care.  In  Plato's  Alcibiades  I.  p.  120,  Soc- 
rates is  made  to  refer  Alcibiades  '*to  Midias  the  quail- 
breeder  and  others  like  him,  who  manage  our  politics."  For 
the  fashionable  amusement  of  quail-filliping,  see  Mr.  Eogers' 
note  on  Aristophanes,  Birds,  1299. 

Antioohus:  afterwards  the  means  of  Alcibiades'  undoing 

,  (xxxv.  4-6). 

I      X.  2.  The  most  powerful  of  orators :  Demosthenes,  who, 

in  his  speech  "  Against  Meidias  ",  §  145,  after  enumerating 
some  of  the  great  services  which  Alcibiades  had  rendered 
the  state,  adds,  **  and  he  was  held  to  be  the  most  able  of  all 
speakers." 

.X.  3.  Theophrastus:  see  the  Introd.,  p.  35.  Plutarch 
cites  this  testimony  also  in  the  Qioomodo  quis  suos  etc,,  9= 
Morals,  p.  80  D,  and  the  Fraec.  reip.  ger,,  S^Morals,  p.  804  A- 
This  tribute  of  Theophrastus  to  Alcibiades  is  not  unlike 
that  of  Thucydides  to  Themistocles  (see  on  the  Themistocles, 
ii.  1). 


i 


)  < 


I    <«  <k  4  ••••••  «.«^>^  » 


270  NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 

XT,  1.  His  breeds  of  horses :  in  characterizing  Alcibiades 
Thucydides  says  (vi.  15,  3),  «  He  had  a  great  position  among 
the  citizens  and  was  devoted  to  horse-racing  and  other  pleas- 
ures which  outran  his  means."  And  in  the  memorable  debate 
in  the  Assembly  over  the  Sicilian  expedition  he  has  Nicias 
say  (vi.  12, 2),  boldly  attacking  Alcibiades,  « I  dare  say  there 
may  be  some  young  man  here  who  is  deUghted  at  holding  a 
command,  and  the  more  so  because  he  is  too  young  for  his 
post ;  and  he,  regarding  only  his  own  interest,  may  recom- 
mend you  to  sail ;  he  may  be  one  who  is  much  admired  for 
his  stud  of  horses,  and  wants  to  make  something  out  of  his 
command  which  will  maintain  him  in  his  extravagance." 

At  the  Olympic  games :  the  great  quadrennial  festival  at 
Olympia,  in  Elis,  in  which  the  whole  HeUenic  world  partici- 
pated.   It  was  probably  the  festival  of  the  year  416  at  which 
Alcibiades  thus  eclipsed  all  records,  after  his  Peloponnesian 
pontics  had  brought  him  into  national  prominence.    "He 
wished  to  win  fame  and  honor  for  himself,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  present  before  the  eyes  of  the  whole  Hellenic  world  a  daz- 
zling picture  of  the  wealth  and  power  of  his  native  city. 
The  ambitious  and  self-seeking  representative  of  an  Athe- 
nian policy  of  war  and  conquest  celebrated  the  most  splendid 
triumph.    Influential  cities  of  the  Athenian  empire  sought 
his  favor  with  costly  gifts.    In  the  stately  race  of  four-horse 
chariots  he  won  the  victory,  was  proclaimed  second  also,  and 
secured  the  third  or  fourth  place  besides.    With  the  greatest 
generosity  he  entertained  the  festival  assemblage.    His  fel- 
low citizens  bestowed  upon  him  the  honor  of  pubUc  mainte- 
nance in  the  Prytaneium.     Euripides  composed  a  hymn  of 
victory  "  (Busolt,  Griech,  Gesch,,  iii  p.  1269). 

Thucydides  makes  Alcibiades  reply  to  the  taunts  of  Nicias 
(vi.  16),  "  These  doings  of  mine  for  which  I  am  so  much 
cried  out  against  are  an  honour  to  myself  and  to  my  ances- 
tors,  and  a  soUd  advantage  to  my  country.  In  consequence 
of  the  distinguished  manner  in  which  I  represented  the 
state  at  Olympia,  the  other  HeUenes  formed  an  idea  of  our 
power  which  even  exceeded  the  reality,  although  they  had 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


271 


previously  imagined  that  we  were  exhausted  by  war.  I  sent 
into  the  lists  seven  chariots,— no  other  private  man  ever 
did  the  like ;  I  was  victor,  and  also  won  the  second  and 
fourth  prize;  and  I  ordered  every  thing  in  a  style  worthy  of 
my  victory.  The  general  sentiment  honours  such  magnifi- 
cence ;  and  the  energy  which  is  shown  by  it  creates  an  im- 
pression of  power."  In  a  Uke  vein  Isocrates  has  the  younger 
Alcibiades  speak  in  defense  of  his  father  (xvL  32-35).     Cf. 

Athenaeus,  p.  3  e. 

According  to  Euripides :  with  whom  Isocrates  also  agrees 

(xvi  34). 

XI.  2.  This  fragment  of  an  epinikion,  or  hymn  of  victory, 
by  Euripides,  is  translated  after  the  text  of  Beigk  (Poet. 
Lyr.  Graeci,  iL  *  p.  266).  Alcibiades  must  have  driven  the 
victorious  chariot  himself,  and  retainers  of  his  the  others. 

We  get  another  fragment  of  this  same  epinikion  of  Euri- 
pides in  the  opening  words  of  Plutarch's  Demosthenes, 
«  Whoever  it  was,  Sosius,  that  wrote  the  poem  in  honor  of 
Alcibiades,  upon  his  winning  the  chariot-race  at  the  Olym- 
pian games,—  whether  it  was  Euripides,  as  is  most  commonly 
thought,  or  some  other  person,  —  he  teUs  us  that  *  to  a  man's 
being  happy  it  is  in  the  first  place  requisite  he  should  be 
bom  in  some  famous  city* ". 

It  will  be  remembered  that  all  of  the  extant  poems  of 
Pmdar  are  epinikia,  or  hymns  of  victory.  In  commissioning 
Euripides  to  celebrate  his  victory,  Alcibiades  was  reviving 
an  obsolete  custom.  So  the  great  tyrants  of  Syracuse  and 
Agrigentum,  Hiero  and  Theron,  had  patronized  Pindar. 

XII.  1.  Rivalry  of  cities :  the  following  items  are  found 
in  [Pseudo-]Andocides  "  Against  Alcibiades  "  (iv.  30),  and 
are  there  correctly  connected  with  the  Olympic  festival 
Satyrus,  a  biographer  of  the  Peripatetic  school  who  flourished 
during  the  first  half  of  the  second  century  B.  c,  is  quoted  at 
length  on  Alcibiades  by  Athenaeus  (pp.  534  f.).  He  makes 
the  four  cities  furnish  Alcibiades  thus  sumptuously  for  aU 
his  journeys  abroad.  Plutarch  makes  a  similar  lapse  in 
xiii.  2. 


272 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADE8 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADE8 


273 


XII.  2.  It  is  said :  apparently,  Plutarch  has  here  blended 
two  stories  of  high-handed  proceedings  by  Alcibiades  in  the 
matter  of  racing-chariots  for  the  Olympic  games.  One 
victim  was  Diomedes,  and  the  other,  Tisias.  The  former,  a 
friend  of  Alcibiades,  was  joint  owner  with  him  of  a  chariot 
and  horses  which  were  sent  up  to  Olympia,  but  Alcibiades 
had  them  entered  in  his  own  name  alone,  and  enjoyed  all  the 
fruits  of  their  victory  (Diodorus,  xiiL  74).  A  variant  on  this 
story  is  that  Alcibiades  took  the  horses  and  chariot  from 
Diomedes  by  force,  screened  by  his  prevailing  influence  with 
the  Elean  masters  of  the  games  ([Pseudo-]Andoc.,  iv.  26). 
The  case  of  Tisias  was  quite  different.  He  had  commis- 
sioned Alcibiades  to  buy  a  likely  chariot  and  horses  for  him 
in  Argos,  and  Alcibiades  had  bought  them  for  himself  in- 
stead. The  details  were  given  in  the  lost  opening  paragraphs 
of  the  speech  of  Isocrates  in  defense  of  the  younger  Alci- 
biades (Introd.  p.  3).  For  the  influence  of  Alcibiades  in  Aigos, 
see  chap.  xv. 

XIII.  Much  of  the  material  of  this  chapter  is  identical 
with  that  of  the  Nicias,  xi,  and  has  had  full  comment  there. 
The  treatment  of  the  subject  in  the  Nicias  is  the  earlier  and 
by  far  the  better.  In  the  present  chapter  Plutarch  takes 
from  his  source  —  which  was  probably  the  same  as  for  the 
Nicias,  xL  and  the  Aristidcs,  viL,  since  all  three  accoimts 
are  in  substantial  agreement — more  material  bearing  upon 
the  personality  of  Phaeax  (see  on  the  Nicias,  xL  7). 

XIII.  1.  Though  still  a  stripling :  Thucydides  introduces 
him  into  his  story  as  "  a  man  who  would  have  been  thought 
young  in  any  other  city,  but  was  influential  by  reason  of  his 
high  descent "  (v.  43, 1). 

XIIL  2.  Eupolis :  a  poet  of  the  Old  Comedy,  a  contem- 
porary and  rival  of  Aristophanes.  Horace  (Sat,  L  4,  1) 
names  him  with  Cratinus  and  Aristophanes  as  the  most  im- 
portant representatives  of  that  branch  of  poetry.  Both 
Eupolis  and  Aristophanes,  who  were  of  about  the  same  age, 
imitated  and  borrowed  from  each  other,  and  attacked  each 
other  therefor.    The  verse  cited  here  is  from  the  "  Demes  "» 


so  named  from  the  chorus,  which  consisted  of  representatives 
of  the  townships  of  Attica.  The  play  satirized  the  internal 
politics  of  Athens,  and  called  up  from  Hades  the  great  men 
of  the  past,  like  Solon,  Miltiades,  Aristides,  and  Pericles,  to 
aid  with  their  counsels.  Cf.  the  Pericles,  iii  4,  and  see  Kock, 
Com.  Att  Frag,,  L  pp.  279,  281. 

A  speech  written  by  Phaeax:  reading  vtto,  instead  of 
ical  ^alaKo^,  the  evident  correction  of  Coraes.  This  is  the 
speech  "Against  Alcibiades"  attributed  to  Andocides,  so 
often  alluded  to  already  in  the  notes.  See  on  the  Nicias, 
XL  7. 

At  his  regular  table:  the  accusation  is  foimd  in  §  29  of 
the  speech,  and  is  closely  connected  with  other  charges  of 
high-handed  conduct  at  the  Olympic  festival  of  416.  Alci- 
biades borrowed  the  city's  utensils  for  use  when  he  enter- 
tained the  multitude  who  had  witnessed  his  victories,  not, 
of  course,  for  his  "  regular  table"  (see  on  xii  1). 

XIII.  3.  H3n?©rbolus  :  see  on  the  Nicias,  xL  3. 

XIII.  4.  Assuaging  their  envy :  see  on  the  Nicias,  xL  1. 

On  one  of  the  three :  this  is  impossible.  Ostracism  drew 
the  lines  between  two  men,  and  the  two  policies  which  they 
represented,  in  this  case,  war  and  peace.  Perhaps  Phaeax 
controlled  the  votes  of  a  body  of  aristocrats,  and  these,  won 
by  the  diplomacy  of  Alcibiades,  helped  turn  the  scales  against 
Hyperbolus  (see  on  the  Nicias,  xL  3). 

Borne  say:  from  the  Nicias,  xL  7,  it  is  clear  that  the 
authority  here  referred  to  is  Theophrastus.  Phaeax  headed 
no  party,  as  Alcibiades  and  Nicias  each  did,  and  as  Hyper- 
bolus wished  to  do,  but  at  most  a  coterie,  or  political  club. 
It  is  probable  that  Theophrastus  was  misled  into  the  state- 
ment which  Plutarch  cites,  by  the  [Pseudo-JAndocides 
speech  "  Against  Alcibiades  ".    See  the  note  on  Nicias,  xL  7. 

XIII.  5.  Plato,  the  comic  poet:  see  on  the  Nicias,  xL  6. 

More  at  length  elsewhere :  in  the  Nicias,  xi.  The  ostra- 
cism of  Hyperbolus  did  not  occur  till  the  spring  of  417, 
nearly  three  years  after  the  events  narrated  in  the  next 
chapter  (xiv.).     Chronologically,  therefore,  the  story  is  better 


274  NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 

placed  in  the  Nicias,  where  it  foUows  those  events.     It  is 
also  more  correctly  told  there. 

XIV.  This  chapter  repeats,  in  slightly  different  form, 
what  has  already  been  told  in  the  Nicias,  ix.  6  —  x.,  and 
f  uUy  commented  upon.  Both  versions  are  excellent  conden- 
sations  of  Thucydides,  who  is  unusuaUy  full  and  precise  in 
narrating  the  parliamentary  ruse  of  Alcibiades. 

XIV.  1.  Consul  Resident  for  the  Lacedaemonians :  it  is 
plain  from  Thucydides,  v.  43,  2  and  vi.  89, 2,  that  the  relation 
was  not  recognized  by  the  Lacedaemonians.    "  For  they  had 
not   consulted  him,  but   had  negotiated  the  peace  through 
Nicias  and  Laches,  despising  his  youth,  and  disregarding  an 
ancient  connection  with  his  famUy,  who  had  been  then:  prox- 
eni;  a  connection  which  his  grandfather  had  renounced,  and 
he,  by  the  attention  which  he  had  paid  to  the  captives  from 
Sphacteria,  had  hoped  to  have  renewed."     In  his  speech  at 
Sparta,  after  his  flight  from  arrest  in  415,  Alcibiades  is  made 
to  say, "  My  ancestors  in  consequence  of  some  misunderstand- 
ing renounced  the  office  of  Lacedaemonian  Proxenus ;  I  my- 
self resumed  it,  and  did  you  many  good  offices,  especially 
after  your  misfortune  at  Pylos.     My  anxiety  to  serve  you 
never  ceased,  but  when  you  were  makmg  peace  with  Athens 
you   negotiated  through  my    enemies,   thereby    conferrmg 
power  on  them,  and  bringing  dishonour  upon  me." 

XIV.  5.  Nicias  himself, he  said:  this  speech  is  inferen- 
tial rhetorical  elaboration  of  what  is   merely  suggested  m 

the  Nicias,  x.  3. 

Friends  of  Athens:  reading 'A^T/i/atW  with  the  Bekker 

(Tauchnitz)  text,  instead  of  'A^t;vatow. 

XIV.  7.  What  is  the  matter  with  you,  etc :  this  speech 
likewise  is  inferential  elaboration  of  what  is  merely  suggested 

in  the  Ninas,  x.  4. 

XIV.  8.  On  the  following  day:  strangely  enough,  this 
version  omits  all  mention  of  the  portentous  earthquake 
(Nicias,  X.  6)  which  delayed  the  decision  of  the  Assembly 
for  one  day.  It  is  natural,  however,  in  a  biography  of  Alci- 
biades, that  the   inglorious  mission  of    Nicias  to  Sparta 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


275 


(Nicias,  x.  7),  for  the  results  of  which  the  Athenians  waited 
before  entering  into  the  alliance  with  Argos,  should  be  passed 

over. 

XV.  1.  Alcibiades  was  probably  appointed  general  in  the 
spring  of  419,  but  the  alliance  with  the  Argives,  Mantineans, 
and  Eleans  was  effected  in  the  summer  of  420.     See  on  the 
Nicias,  x.  8.     The  battle  of  Mantinea  was  not  fought   till 
the  late  summer  of  418.     Then  Alcibiades  was  no  longer 
general,  having  failed  of  election  in  the  spring  of  that  year, 
and  given  place  to  Nicias  with  other  representatives  of  the 
peace  party  which  had  come  again  into  power.    The  alliance 
with  Argos,  however,  was  not  broken  off,  and  a  force  of 
Athenians  under  Laches  and  Nicostratus  took  part  in  the 
disastrous    battle  of  Mantinea,  where   both  generals  felL 
The  brilliant  policy  which  Alcibiades  had  inaugurated  of 
uniting  with  the  maritime  empire  of   Athens  a  league  of 
democratic   agricultural  states   in   northern   Peloponnesus, 
which  should  hem  in  the  power  of  Sparta,  came  to  grief,  and 
the  prestige  of  Sparta  was  completely  restored  by  her  victory. 
**  They  wiped  out  the  charge  of  cowardice,  which  was  due  to 
their  misfortune  at  Sphacteria,  and  of  general  stupidity  and 
sluggishness,  then  current  against  them  in  Hellas.     They 
were  now  thought  to  have  been  hardly  used  by  fortune,  but 
in  character  to  be  the  same  as  ever"  (Thuc,  v.  75,  3).     In 
his  speech  defending  himself  against  the  insinuations  of 
Nicias  in  the  Assembly,  Alcibiades  is  made  to  say,  "  Did  I 
not,  without  involving  you  in  any  great  danger  or  expense, 
combine  the  most  powerful  states  of  Peloponnesus  against 
the  Lacedaemonians,  whom  I  compelled  to  stake  at  Manti- 
nea all  that  they  had  upon  the  fortune  of  one  day  ?     And 
even  to  this  hour,  although  they  were  victorious  in  the 
battle,  they  have    hardly  recovered  courage**   (Thuc,  vi, 

16,  6). 

This  chapter,  like  the  preceding,  is  based  almost  wholly 

upon  Thucydides. 

8o  many  warlike  shields,  etc. :  this   reads  like  an  orna- 
mental citation. 


276 


NOTES  ON   THE  ALCIBIADES 


XV.  2.  The  Thousand :  a  select  corps  of  young  men  of 
high  birth, "  whom  the  city  had  long  trained  at  the  public 
expense  in  military  exercises  "  (Thuc,  v.  67,  2). 

In  consequence  of  the  defeat  of  the  alliance  at  Mantinea, 
Aigos  made  peace  with  Sparta,  and  then  alliance,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  act  with  her  against  Athens.  Mantinea  also  came 
to  terms  with  Sparta.  "  Next  the  Lacedaemonians  and  the 
Argives,  each  providing  a  thousand  men,  made  a  joint  expe- 
dition: first  the  Lacedaemonians  went  alone  and  set  up  a 
more  oligarchical  government  at  Sicyon  ;  then  they  and  the 
Argives,  uniting  their  forces,  put  down  the  democracy  at 
Argos,  and  established  an  oligarchy  which  was  in  the  interest 
of  the  Lacedaemonians.  These  changes  were  effected  at  the 
close  of  winter  towards  the  approach  of  spring  "  (Thuc,  v. 
81,  2).     This  was  the  spring  of  417. 

The  populace  took  up  arms  again:  in  the  ensuing  sum- 
mer of  417.  "The  popular  party  at  Argos,  reconstituting 
themselves  by  degrees,  plucked  up  courage,  and,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  festival  of  the  Gymnopaediae  at  Lacedaemon, 
attacked  the  oligarchy.  A  battle  took  place  in  the  city: 
the  popular  party  won,  and  either  killed  or  expelled  their 
enemies  "  (Thuc,  v.  82,  2). 

Aloibiades  came :  there  is  no  mention  of  him  in  the  nar- 
rative of  Thucydides,  but  his  presence  is  a  most  natural  in- 
ference.    See  the  next  note. 

XV.  3.  "  Meanwhile  the  democracy  at  Argos,  fearing  the 
Lacedaemonians,  and  again  courting  the  Athenian  alliance 
in  which  their  hopes  were  centred,  built  Long  Walls  to  the 
sea,  in  order  that  if  they  were  blockaded  by  land  they  might 
have  the  advantage,  with  Athenian  help,  of  introducing  pro- 
visions by  water.  The  whole  Argive  people,  the  citizens 
themselves,  their  wives,  and  their  slaves,  set  to  work  upon 
the  wall,  and  the  Athenians  sent  them  carpenters  and 
masons  from  Athens"  (Thuc,  v.  82,  5).  In  the  ensuing 
winter  (417/416)  the  still  unfinished  walls  were  captured 
and  destroyed  by  the  Lacedaemonians  (Thuc,  v.  83,  2),  and 
in  the   summer  of  416   Alcibiades  sailed   to   Argos  with 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


277 


twenty  ships  and  expelled  three  hundred  of  the  Lacedae- 
monian sympathizers  (Thuc,  v.  84,  1). 

Persuaded  the  people  of  Patrae  •  this  was  two  years  ear- 
lier, in  the  summer  of  419,  when  Alcibiades  was  organizing 
the  affairs  of  his  new  North-Peloponnesian  confederacy. 
**  (Toming  to  Patrae,  he  persuaded  the  citizens  to  build  walls 
reaching  down  to  the  sea  "  (Thuc,  v.  52,  2).  Patrae  was  the 
chief  sea-port  of  Achaia,  and  in  possession  of  it  Athens  could 
better  control  the  commerce  of  the  Corinthian  gulf.  The 
fine  apophthegm  of  Alcibiades  which  Plutarch  gives  is  not 
found  elsewhere. 

XV.  4.  The  sanctueuT  of  Agraulus :  among  the  rocks  on 
the  northern  slope  of  the  Acropolis.  "  It  was  at  this  point 
that  the  Medes  ascended  and  massacred  those  Athenians 
who  thought  they  knew  more  about  the  oracle  than  Them- 
istocles,  and  had  fortified  the  Acropolis  with  logs  and  stakes  " 
(Pausanias,  L  18,  2).  In  this  sanctuary  the  Athenian  youth 
(the  Epheboi)  took  the  oath  of  loyalty  to  the  state.  See 
Gardner-Jevons,  Manual  of  Cheek  Antiquities,  pp.  635  fif. ; 
Harrison- Verrall,  Mythology  and  Monuments  of  Athens, 
pp.  163  ff. 

XVI.  1.  The  decks  of  his  triremes :  the  place  of  the 
trierarch  was  at  the  stem  of  his  trireme,  where  a  tent  was 
pitched  and  a  couch  spread  for  him.  The  "  Mean  Man  "  of 
Theophrastus  (Char.,  xxv.,  Jebb),  "when he  is  trierarch,  will 
spread  the  steersman's  rugs  under  him  on  the  deck,  and  put 
his  own  away." 

A  golden  shield:  this  item  is  found  in  the  long  screed 
against  Alcibiades  cited  from  Satyrus  by  Athenaeus  (see  on 
xiL  1). 

XVI.  2.  By  Aristophanes:  in  the  Frogs,  w.  1425  and 
1431-1433.  The  play  was  brought  out  (405)  when  Alci- 
biades was  a  second  time  in  exile. 

XVI.  3.  Voluntaxy  contributions :  see  on  x.  1. 

Publio  exhibitions:  see  on  the  Nicias,  iii  2. 

XVI.  4.  Affatharohus :  of  Samos,  specially  prominent  at 
Athens  as  a  theatrical  scene-painter  (460-420  b.  c).    As  the 


278 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


279 


Story  is  told  in  [P8eudo-]Andocide8,  iv.  17,  Agatharchus  made 
his  escape  after  three  months,  whereat  Alcibiades  was  in- 
censed, and  threatened  the  artist  for  thus  abandoning  his 
task.     See  the  Pericles,  xiii.  2,  and  notes. 

Taureas:  as  the  story  is  told  at  length  in  [Pseudo-] 
Andocides,  iv.  20  f.,  Taureas  was  a  competing  choregus  with 
Alcibiades  at  the  Greater  Dionysia  in  a  dith}Tambic  contest. 
A  dispute  arose  concerning  the  parentage  of  one  of  the  sing- 
ers of  Taureas,  and  Alcibiades  beat  Taureas  out  of  the  or- 
chestra. The  audience  sympathized  with  Taureas,  but  the 
judges,  out  of  fear  and  seeking  the  favor  of  Alcibiades, 
awarded  him  the  victory.  Demosthenes  refers  to  the  outrage 
in  xxi.  147,  as  well  as  to  the  imprisonment  of  Agatharchus. 

The  prisoners  of  Melos:  during  the  summer  of  416,  the 
island  of  Melos,  colonized  by  the  Lacedaemonians,  which  had 
preferred  to  remain  independent  of  Athens,  was  attacked  by 
her  under  the  influence  of  Alcibiades.  The  town  of  Melos 
was  invested  by  land  and  sea,  and  surrendered  at  discretion 
in  the  ensuing  winter.  "  The  Athenians  thereupon  put  to 
death  all  who  were  of  military  age,  and  made  slaves  of  the 
women  and  children.  They  then  colonized  the  island,  send- 
ing thither  five  hundred  settlers  of  their  own  "  (Thuc.,  v.  116, 
fin.).  By  means  of  an  imaginary  colloquy  between  Athe- 
nian envoys  and  the  Melian  government  (v.  85-111),  the  his- 
torian has  thrown  into  dramatic  form  "  the  overbearing  spirit 
of  the  Athenians,  flown  with  insolence,  on  the  eve  of  an  en- 
terprise which  was  destined  to  bring  signal  retribution  and 
humble  their  city  in  the  dust"  (Buiy,  History  of  Greece, 

p.  463). 

The  story  of  Alcibiades  and  his  Melian  mistress  is  told 
with  great  display  of  rhetoric  in  [Pseudo-]  Andocides,  iv.  22  f. 

XVI.  5.  Aristophon  painted  Nemea,  etc:  Satyrus, 
quoted  by  Athenaeus  (see  on  xiL  1),  says  that  Alcibiades, 
on  his  return  from  Olympia,  dedicated  two  pictures  by 
Aglaophon:  one  representing  Olympias  and  Pythias  (per- 
sonifications of  Olympia  and  Delphi)  crowning  Alcibiades ; 
the  other  Nemea,  seated,  and  holding  Alcibiades  in  her  lap, 


who  was  made  fairer  than  the  faces  of  women.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  this  is  the  picture  of  which  Plutarch  here 
speaks,  and  to  which  Pausanias  alludes  (L  22,  7)  as  **  a  pic- 
ture of  Alcibiades  containing  emblems  of  the  victory  won  by 
his  team  at  Nemea  ".  Satyrus  is  probably  correct  in  making 
Aglaophon,  and  not  Aristophon,  the  author  of  the  picture. 
The  latter  was  a  brother  of  the  great  Polygnotus  (see  the 
Cimon,  iv.  5  and  6,  with  notes) ;  the  former  u  son  or  nephew 
of  Polygnotus,  bearing  the  same  name  as  his  grandfather. 
Such  a  painter,  Aglaophon,  was  flourishing  in  420-417,  ac- 
cording to  Pliny  {K  ff,  xxxv.  60),  and  so  might  have 
painted  Alcibiades. 

Smacked  of  lawlessness  :  "  it  was  forbidden  by  law  to 
give  the  name  of  a  quadrennial  festival  (like  the  Nemean, 
Olympian,  and  Pythian  festivals)  to  a  slave-girl,  a  prostitute, 
or  a  flute-girl  (Athenaeus,  p.  587  c) ;  for  the  model  who  sat 
for  Nemea  in  Alcibiades*  portrait  would  almost  certainly  be- 
long to  one  of  these  classes."  See  the  excellent  note  of 
Frazer  on  Pausanias,  L  22,  7. 

Archestratus :  perhaps  the  choral  poet  who  is  mentioned 
in  the  Aristides,  i.  4,  as  flourishing  during  the  Peloponnesian 
war.  That  the  story  comes  from  Theophrastus  is  clear  from 
the  Lysander,  xix.  3,  where  the  same  mot  is  uttered  con- 
cerning Lysander  by  Eteocles  the  Lacedaemonian,  and 
**  Theophrastus  says  that  Archestratus  said  the  same  thing 
about  Alcibiades."  The  two  stories  are  blended  in  Athe- 
naeus, p.  533  d. 

XVI.  6.  Timon  the  misanthrope:  attacked  by  Aris- 
tophanes and  other  comic  poets  as  a  man-hating  solitary, —  a 
•  limb  of  the  Furies  ",  and  made  famous  by  the  dialogue  of 
Lucian  which  bears  his  name.  Plutarch  devotes  chapter 
Ixx.  of  his  Antony  to  a  short  sketch  of  Timon.  "This 
Timon  was  a  citizen  of  Athens,  and  lived  much  about  the 
Peloponnesian  war,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  comedies  of  Aris- 
tophanes and  Plato,  in  which  he  is  ridiculed  as  the  enemy  and 
hater  of  mankind.  He  avoided  and  repelled  the  approaches 
of  every  one,  but  embraced  with  kisses  and  the  greatest 


280 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


show  of  affection  Alcibiades,  then  in  his  hot  youth.  And 
when  Apemantus  was  astonished,  and  demanded  the  reason, 
he  replied  that  he  knew  this  young  man  would  one  day  do 
infinite  mischief  to  the  Athenians." 

XVII.,  XVIIL  These  chapters  are  evidently  a  later  and 
less  artistic  presentation  of  material  which  the  author  has 
already  treated  much  more  fully  in  the  Nidas  xiL  and  xiii, 
to  the  notes  upon  which  the  reader  is  referred.  There  are 
many  omissions  in  the  Alcibiades  of  items  given  in  the  Nicias, 
some  slight  variations  in  the  treatment  of  the  same  detail, 
much  difference  in  the  order  of  the  various  items,  and  one 
important  addition,  viz.  the  attribution  to  Corinthians  of  the 
defacement  of  the  ffermae  (xviii.  3). 

XVII.  1.  For  the  gradual  rise  of  Athenian  interest  in  and 
ambition  to  control  Sicily,  see  on  the  Nicias,  xiL  1. 

XVII.  2,  3.  Compare  the  Nicias,  xiL  1-2. 

XVII.  4.  Socrates :  see  on  the  Nicias,  xiiL  6. 
Meton :  see  on  the  Nicicts,  xiii  5. 

XVIII.  1-2.  See  the  NiciaSy  xii.  2-4,  with  the  notes. 

XVIII.  3-4.  See  the  Nicias,  xiii   7  and  2,  with  the 

notes. 

XIX.  This  chapter  reproduces,  substantially,  Thucydides, 
vi.  28  and  29,  with  several  interesting  accretions  in  the  way 
of  detail,  and  with  much  rhetorical  elaboration. 

XIX.  1.  The  myBteries  of  BleusiB:    originally  a  local 
agricultural  cult,  developed  round  the  myth  of  Demeter  and 
Persephone  in  earUest  times  at  Eleusis,  the  little  city  com- 
manding  the  Thriasian  plain,  between  Athens  and  Megara. 
When  Eleusis  became  part  of  the  Athenian  state,  early  in 
the  seventh  century  b.  c,  its  mysteries  became  part  of  the 
Athenian  state  religion,  and  one  of  the  chief  festivals  of  the 
Attic  year,  receiving  various  additional  elements.    During 
the  years  immediately  following  the  Peace  of  Nicias  (421), 
if  not  more  than  a  decade  earlier,  a  tax  upon  the  fruits  of 
the  earth  was  laid  on  the  farmers  of  Attica  and  the  Athenian 
allies  for  the  support  of  the  worship  of  Eleusis,  and  "  all  Hel- 
lenic cities  whom  it  seemed  possible  to  approach  on  the  mat- 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


281 


ter  "  were  invited  to  send  first-fruits.     The  festival,  that  is, 
became  Pan-Hellenic.     "All  Greeks,  not  impure  through 
any  pollution,  were  welcome  to  the  rites  of  initiation ;  women 
were  not  excluded  by  their  sex,  nor  slaves  by  their  condi- 
tion "  (Bury).     On  the  fourth  of  the  nine  days  of  the  cele- 
bration, the  image  of  lacchus  was  taken  from  its  shrine  in 
Athens,  and  carried  in  solemn  procession  along  the  Sacred 
Way  to  the  temple  of  the  goddesses  at  Eleusis,  which  was 
reached  at  night,  by  the  light  of  torches.     The  crowning 
function  of  the  whole  festival  was  the  performance  of  the 
religious  drama  based  on  the  passion  of  Demeter.    To  trav- 
esty this  was  as  serious  a  sacrilege  at  Athens  as  the  parody 
of  the  rite  of  the  Holy  Communion  by  a  student  of  Hertford 
College,  Oxford  (Gribble,  Eomance  of  the  Oxford   Colleges, 
p.  311).     "  Even  the  divulgation  in  words  to  the  uninitiated, 
of  that  which  was  exhibited  to  the  eye  and  ear  of  the  assem- 
bly in  the  interior  of  the  Eleusinian  temple,  was  accounted 
highly  criminal:  much  more  the  actual  mimicry  of  these 
ceremonies  for  the  amusement  of  a  convivial  party.     More- 
over the  individuals  who  held  the  great  sacred  offices  at 
Eleusis  (the  Hierophant,  the  Daduch  or  Torch-bearer,  and  the 
Keryx  or  Herald)  —  which  were  transmitted  by  inheritance 
in  the  Eumolpidae  and  other  great  families  of  antiquity  and 
importance,  were  personally  insulted  by  such  proceedings, 
and  vindicated  their  own  dignity  at  the  same  time  that  they 
invoked  punishment  on  the  offenders  in  the  name  of  Demeter 
and  Persephone  "  (Grote). 

For  further  and  more  minute  details  of  the  Eleusinian 
mysteries,  the  general  reader  may  be  referred  to  the  article 
Eleminia  in  the  classical  dictionaries,  to  Gardner-Jevons, 
Manual  of  Greek  AntiquUies,!^^.  274-284,  or  to  Bury,  Gh-eek 
History,  pp.  313-316.  The  special  student  will  find  the  liter- 
ature of  the  subject  fully  cited  in  Frazer's  Fausanias,  il 

pp.  513  t 

Androoles:  **  certain  metics  and  slaves  gave  information," 
says  Thucydides,  with  no  mention  of  Androcles.  The  name 
has  perhaps  been  inferentially  and  plausibly  supplied  from 


282 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


288 


Thucydides,  viiL  65.  In  411,  when  the  oligarchical  revolu- 
tion at  Athens  was  under  way  and  half  accomplished, "  some 
of  the  younger  citizens  had  conspired  and  secretly  assassi- 
nated one  Androcles,  a  great  man  with  the  people,  who  had 
been  foremost  in  procuring  the  banishment  of  Alcibiades. 
Their  motives  were  two-fold:  they  killed  him  because  he 
was  a  demagogue ;  but  more  because  they  hoped  to  gratify 
Alcibiades,  whom  they  were  still  expecting  to  return  and  to 
make  Tissaphemes  their  friend." 

They  said,  eta:  according  to  Andocides  {On  the  Mysteries^ 
11-17),  no  less  than  four  informations  were  laid  before  the 
Assembly  of  profane  travesties  of  the  mysteries,  at  two  of 
which  Alcibiades  was  present.  But  these  contain  no  speci- 
fications of  the  part  taken  by  the  different  feasters  (c/.  xx. 
2,  fin.).  Such  details  Plutarch  has  here  wrongly  anticipated 
from  the  formal  impeachment  of  Alcibiades  introduced  by 
Thessalus  to  the  Council  (cited  in  full  at  xxii.  3)  later  in  the 
year,  after  the  expedition  had  sailed.  This  was  a  different 
case. 

XIX.  3.  A  thousand  in  number :  either  exaggeration  or 
misunderstanding  of  Thucydides,  vL  43,  2,  where  the  Argive 
hoplites  number  five  hundred,  and  the  Mantinean  and  other 
(Arcadian)  mercenaries  two  hundred  and  fifty. 

XX.  This  chapter  contains,  in  §§  1-3,  matter  greatly  con- 
densed from  Thucydides,  vL  43-53,  and  60 ;  and,  in  §§  4,  5, 
matter  found  in  Andocides  {On  the  Mysteries) ^  and  in  Di- 
odorus  (Ephorus),  with  a  citation  from  Phrynichus. 

XX.  2.  Taking  Rhenium  :  this  is  inaccurate.  Rhegium, 
like  the  other  Italian  cities,  would  not  admit  the  Athenians 
within  her  walls,  but  allowed  them  to  encamp  on  the  shore, 
and  furnished  them  with  a  market  (Thuc.,  vi.  44,  3). 

Proposed  a  plan :  as  did  each  of  the  other  generals,  in  a 
formal  council  of  war  (Thuc.,  vL  47-49).  Cf.  the  Nidas, 
xiv.  3. 

Secured  the  allegiance  of  Catana:  as  described  at  length 
in  Thucydides,  vL  50  f. 

Ihavesfldd:  Plutarch  should  have  said  this  in  xix.  1, 


instead  of  introducing  there  specific  details  (see  the  note 

ad  loc). 

XX.  3.  This  is  substantially  what  Thucydides  says  in  vL 

53,  60  t 

XX.  4.  Thucydides  omiUed,  etc:  although  he  must 
have  known  them,  if  in  no  other  way,  from  the  speech  of 
Andocides  "  On  the  Mysteries  ",  delivered  in  399.  It  was  not 
appropriate  to  the  large  and  general  character  of  his  story  to 
give  such  minute  details.  He  says  that  some  of  the  most 
respectable  citizens  were  imprisoned  "  on  the  evidence  of 
wretches"  (vi.  53,  2). 

Others:  Andocides,  On  the  Mysteries,  §§  34-38. 

Phrynichus :  one  of  the  most  distinguished  poets  of  Old 
Comedy,  somewhat  older  than,  though  a  rival  of  Aristoph- 
anes. His  Muses  took  the  second  place  when  Aristophanes 
gained  the  first  with  his  Frogs  (405).  The  name  of  the  play 
from  which  the  following  verses  are  cited  is  uncertain.  See 
Kock,  Com.  Att.  Frag.,  i.  p.  385,  who  thinks  it  may  have 
been  "The  Solitary",  which  took  third  place  when  Aris- 
tophanes gained  second  with  his  Birds  (414). 

Dearest  Hermes,  etc :  some  one  addresses  a  stone  figure 
which  he  has  erected,  and  the  Hermes  replies  as  if  alive. 

XX.  5.  One  of  them :  Diocleides  (see  Andocides,  On  the 
Mysteries,  §  38),  in  teUing  his  story  to  the  Council,  said  that 
it  was  the  time  of  full  moon,  and  that  he  recognized  the 
faces  of  most  of  the  three  hundred  5erma«-defacers  by  the 
light  of  the  moon.  It  was  afterwards  proven  that,  at  the 
time  (early  morning)  when  Diocleides  professed  to  have  seen 
these  men,  the  moon  had  set.  His  lying  tale,  however, 
could  never  have  found  the  credence  that  it  did  if  he  had  lied 
80  clumsily  as  to  put  such  a  memorable  night  at  the  time  of 
full  moon  when  it  was  really  the  time  of  new  moon,  i.  e., 
when  there  was  no  moon  at  alL  But  later  tradition  as  repre- 
sented by  Plutarch,  in  this  passage,  and  Diodorus  (xiiL  2, 
5  I),  made  the  story  more  piquant  by  putting  the  events  at 
the  time  of  new  moon.  Plutarch  evidently  draws  from  the 
same  source  as  Diodorus  (Ephorus),  rather  than  directly  from 


t 


284 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


Andocides.     See  Grote,  History  of  Greece  (Eng.  ed.),  vi.  p. 
35 ;  Busolt,  Griech,  Gesch.,  iii.  pp.  1288  f. 

Casting  into  prison :  stimulated  by  large  rewards  ofifered 
to  informers,  Teucer,  a  metic,  had  accused  eighteen  persons 
as  violators  of  the  Hermae,  and  Diocleides  had  designated 
forty-two  out  of  the  band  of  three  hundred  conspirators 
whom  he  professed  to  have  seen.  All  of  these  who  did  not 
at  once  take  to  flight,  were  arrested  and  imprisoned. 

XXL  1.  Andocides:  see  the  Introduction,  pp.  42  ff. 
Thucydides  does  not  give  his  name.  "  One  of  the  prisoners, 
who  was  believed  to  be  deeply  implicated,  was  induced  by  a 
fellow-prisoner  to  make  a  confession  —  whether  true  or  false 
I  cannot  say ;  opinions  are  divided,  and  no  one  knew,  or  to 
this  day  knows,  who  the  offenders  were  "(vi.  60). 

Hellanicus :  of  Mitylene,  a  prolific  author  of  genealogical, 
chorographical,  and  chronological  works,  whose  activity 
covered  the  greater  part  of  the  fifth  century  b.  c.     See  the 

Introduction,  p.  42. 

XXI.  2.  The  only  one  to  remcdn  unharmed:  in  his 
speech  "On  the  Mysteries"  (§§  48-66),  Andocides  explains  this 
by  saying  that  it  was  assumed  by  the  convivial  party  which 
(as  he  testified)  defaced  the  Herman,  that  he  would  under- 
take the  mutilation  of  this  particular  Hermes  himself,  but 
he  was  confined  to  his  bed  on  the  night  of  the  outrage.  For 
the  outrage  itself,  see  on  the  Nicias,  xiiL  2. 

Its  inscription :  of  dedication  by  the  Aegeid  tribe. 

A  man  named  Timaeus :  in  the  story  of  Andocides,  it  is 
Charmides,  a  cousin  and  friend  of  his,  who  made  the  appeal 
to  him,  and  b^ged  him,  by  means  of  a  voluntary  confession 
which  would  procure  immunity  from  punishment  for  himself, 
to  save  the  lives  of  many  innocent  persons,  many  of  them 
his  own  kinsmen,  and  to  rescue  the  city  from  its  panic  fears. 
Whence  Plutarch  got  his  divergent  testimony,  cannot  be  de- 
termined. It  may  be  that  it  embodies  what  Andocides  really 
said  in  415,  and  that  his  account  of  the  affair  in  his  speech 
of  399  puts  the  matter  differently.  In  that  case  we  have  to 
remember  « that  the  version  of  the  matter  given  in  his  speech 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


285 


on  the  mysteries  is,  on  the  whole,  true  in  itself,  but  is  untrue 
as  a  representation  of  what  he  stated  in  415  "  (Jebb,  Attic 
Orators y  L  p.  79). 

XXI.  4.  All  those  whom  he  named:  he  named  twenty- 
two  in  all;  but  eighteen  of  these  had  already  been  denoimced 
by  Teucer  (see  on  xx.  5),  and  the  other  four  took  to  flight  at 
once,  without  waiting  to  be  arrested. 

Were  put  to  death:  Andocides  repeatedly  (§§  52,  59,  67) 
claims  that  the  eighteen  had  already  been  put  to  death  in 
consequence  of  the  deposition  of  Teucer.  But  this  is  highly 
improbable,  and  is  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  testimony  of 
Thucydides,  who  says  that  the  Athenians  "  immediately  lib- 
erated the  informer  and  all  whom  he  had  not  denounced. 
The  accused  they  brought  to  trial,  and  executed  such  of  them 
as  could  be  found.  Those  who  had  fled  they  condemned  to 
death,  and  promised  a  reward  to  any  one  who  would  kQl 
them.  No  one  could  say  whether  the  sufferers  were  justly 
punished ;  but  the  beneficial  effect  on  the  city  at  that  time 
was  imdeniable"  (vi  60,  5).  In  consequence  also  of  the 
testimony  of  Andocides,  Diocleides  was  called  before  the 
authorities,  and  confessed  that  he  had  given  a  false  deposi- 
tion (see  on  xx.  5).  He  was  condemned  to  death  and 
executed. 

Some  of  his  own  household  servants :  the  enemies  of  An- 
docides affirmed  that  he  included  in  his  list  of  culprits  some 
of  his  own  nearest  relatives.  This  Andocides  denies  in  his 
speech,  but  says  he  offered  his  slaves  to  be  tortured,  in  order 
that  his  story  of  being  sick  in  bed  on  the  night  of  the  out- 
rage might  be  confirmed  by  their  testimony.  Plutarch  seems 
to  jumble  together  the  two  cases. 

XXI.  5.  Dashed  ....  against  Aloibiades:  his  enemies 
revived  against  him  the  charges  of  travestying  the  Eleusinian 
mysteries,  made  just  before  the  expedition  sailed.  These 
were  now  readily  proven  (see  xxii  3-4,  and  notes).  He  was 
not  connected  in  any  way  with  the  disfigurement  of  the 
Hermae,  which  was  clearly  the  work  of  his  enemies. 

The  Salaminian  state-galley :  one  of  three  sacred  galleys 


•ii 


286 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADE8 


reserved  at  Athens  for  special  state  services.  The  others 
were  the  "  Paralus  ",  and  the  Delian  vessel.  The  absence  of 
the  last,  on  its  annual  mission  to  Delos,  gave  Socrates  a 
month's  reprieve  from  death.  The  Paralus  was  sent  from  the 
army  at  Samos  to  announce  at  Athens  the  fall  of  the  Samian 
oligarchy,  but  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Four  Hundred 
(Thuc,  viii  74).  Both  the  Paralus  and  the  Salaminia  served 
also  as  war  vessels. 

Accompany  them  home :  on  his  own  trireme.  **  He  was 
ordered  to  follow  the  officers  home  and  defend  himself,  but 
they  were  told  not  to  arrest  him';  the  Athenians,  having  re- 
gard to  their  interests  in  Sicily,  were  anxious  not  to  cause 
excitement  in  their  own  camp  or  to  attract  the  attention  of 
the  enemy,  and  above  all  not  to  lose  the  Mantineans  and 
Argives,  whom  they  knew  to  have  been  induced  by  his  influ- 
ence to  join  in  the  expedition.  He  in  his  own  ship,  and 
those  who  were  accused  with  him,  left  Sicily  in  company 
with  the  Salaminia,  and  sailed  for  Athens  "  (Thuc,  vi.  61, 5  t). 

XXI.  6.  Lamaohus:  see  the  Nicias,  xv.  1,  and  note. 

XXII.  1.  Robbed  the  Athenians  of  Messene:  "ForAl- 
cibiades,  when  he  was  recalled  and  gave  up  his  command, 
foreseeing  that  he  would  be  an  exile,  communicated  to  the 
Syracusan  party  at  Messene  the  plot  of  which  he  was 
cognizant"  (Thuc,  vi   74,  1).     This  was  in  September, 

415. 

XXII.  2.  These  reputed  utterances  of  Alcibiades  are  also 
given  by  Plutarch  in  the  Apoph.  reg,  et  imp.  =  Morals, 
p.  186  F,  and  by  Aelian,  Var.  Hist.,  xiiL  38. 

XXIL  3.  His  impeachment  is  on  record:  in  the  collec- 
tion of  Craterus  (Introd.  p.  35),  to  which  Plutarch  is  often 

indebted. 

Thessalus,  sonof  Cimon:  see  on  the  Cimon,  xvi.  1.  He 
was  of  course  an  oligarch,  like  his  father,  but  seems  to  have 
been  comparatively  unimportant.  The  leaders  of  the  pop- 
ular party,  who  really  pressed  the  case  against  Alcibiades, 
were  glad  to  use  a  man  of  such  great  family  prestige. 

In  his  own  house:  before  the  departure  of  the  expedition 


; 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


287 


a  slave,  Andromachus,  had  deposed  before  the  Assembly 
that  he  had  been  in  the  house  of  Pulytion  when  Alcibiades, 
Niciades,  and  Melebus  went  through  a  sham  celebration  of 
the  mysteries  (see  on  xix.  1  Jin.).  That  sacrilege  is  referred 
to  by  Pausanias  (i.  2,  5)  as  follows :  "  One  of  the  colonnades 
[running  from  the  Dipylum  gate  to  the  inner  Cerameicus] 
contains  sanctuaries  of  the  gods  and  a  gymnasium  called  the 
gymnasium  of  Hermes.  In  it,  too,  is  the  house  of  Pulytion, 
in  which,  they  say,  some  illustrious  Athenians  parodied  the 
Eleusinian  mysteries." 

After  the  departure  of  the  expedition,  among  the  many 
depositions  induced  by  the  rich  rewards  promised  to  inform- 
ers, a  woman  named  Agariste,  wife  of  Alcmaeonides,  of  the 
highest  rank  and  family  in  the  city,  deposed  that  Alcibiades, 
Axiochus,  and  Adeimantus  had  parodied  the  mysteries  in 
the  house  of  Charmides  (Andoc,  De  myst,  16). 

The  sacrilege  alleged  against  Alcibiades  in  the  formal  im- 
peachment brought  by  Thessalus  before  the  Council  of  Five 
Hundred,  was  a  different  one  from  these,  and  was  committed 
in  his  own  house,  where  he  was  assisted  by  Pulytion  and 
Theodorus.  Neither  of  these  men  is  mentioned  in  the  other 
two  depositions.  The  fine  house  of  Pulytion,  in  which  the 
first  of  the  three  sacrileges  was  committed,  was  pledged  for 
debt,  and  probably  occupied  by  another  man  (see  Busolt, 
Griech.  Gesch.,  iii-  PP-  1293,  1318).  Neither  in  xix.  1  of  this 
Life,  nor  in  Quaest.  Conv.  i.  3  =  Morals,  p.  621  C,  does  Plu- 
tarch distinguish  between  the  first  and  third  cases:  ** Al- 
cibiades and  Theodorus  turned  Pulytion's  banquet  into  a 
place  of  initiation,  and  represented  there  the  sacred  proces- 
sion and  mysteries  of  Ceres." 

Mystae.  Epoptae :  "  Initiates  ",  "  Beholders  ".  It  is  some- 
times held,  though  it  is  incapable  of  complete  proof,  that  the 
first  term  refers  to  those  who  had  undergone  the  initial  rites 
of  purification  only,  and  the  second  to  those  who  had  been 
admitted  to  the  crowning  feature  of  the  celebration,  —  the 
religious  drama  in  the  temple  at  Eleusis.  See  on  xix.  1. 
XXn.  4.  His  case  went  by  default :  "  The  Athenians,  on 


\i 


\\ 


288 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADE8 


h 


his  non-appearance,  sentenced  him  and  his  companions  to 
death  "  (Thuc,  vi.  61  Jin,). 

His  property  was  oonflscated:  this  followed  as  matter 
of  course.  Five  fragmentary  inscriptions  have  been  found 
which  relate  to  the  sale  at  public  auction  of  the  confiscated 
property  of  those  who  had  been  condemned  for  defacing  the 
Hermae  and  profaning  the  mysteries.  One  of  them  is  a 
partial  inventory  of  the  bed-room  furniture  of  Alcibiades, 
which  indicates  extreme  luxury.  See  Hicks  and  Hill,  Gruk 
Hist.  Insc.^,  pp.  142  ff. 

By  all  priests  and  priestesses :  this  is  manifest  exaggera- 
tion. The  curse  was  pronounced  by  the  "  Eumolpidae,  Heralds, 
and  Priests  of  Eleusis  "  only,  as  is  clear  from  chap,  xxxiii.  3, 
which  agrees  with  Diodorus  (Ephorus),  xiii.  69,  2  and  Nepos, 
Ale,  iv. ;  vi  (Theopompus).  When  the  recall  of  Alcibiades 
was  being  discussed  at  Athens  in  412,  "  the  Eumolpidae  and 
Ceryces  [Heralds]  called  heaven  and  earth  to  witness  that 
the  city  must  never  restore  a  man  who  had  been  banished 
for  profaning  the  mysteries  "  (Thuc,  viii.  53,  2). 

Theano :  whence  this  detail  comes  is  not  known.  Plu- 
tarch  refers  to  it  in  Aetia  Bom.,  44  =  Morals,  p.  275  D: 
**And  an  execration  is  a  fearful  and  a  grievous  thing.  Hence 
neither  is  it  thought  fit  that  priests  should  curse  others. 
Wherefore  the  priestess  at  Athens  was  commended  for  re- 
fusing to  curse  Alcibiades,  when  the  people  required  her 
to  do  it;  for  she  said,  'I  am  a  praying,  not  a  cursing 
priestess.* " 

XXIII.  1.  Eegarding  the  movements  of  Alcibiades  after 
leaving  Sicily,  Thucydides  is  unusually  explicit  (vi  61,  6  f. ; 
88,  9  f.) :  "  He  in  his  own  ship,  and  those  who  were  accused 
with  him,  left  Sicily  in  company  with  the  Salaminia,  and  sailed 
for  Athens.  When  they  arrived  at  Thurii  they  followed  no 
further,  but  left  the  ship  and  disappeared,  fearing  to  return 
and  stand  their  trial  when  the  prejudice  against  them  was  so 
violent  The  crew  of  the  Salaminia  searched  for  them,  but 
after  a  time,  being  unable  to  find  them,  gave  up  the  search 
and  went  home.    Alcibiades,  now  an  exile,  crossed  not  long 


\f 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


289 


afterwards  in  a  small  vessel  from  Thurii  to  Peloponnesus, 
and  the  Athenians  on  his  non-appearance  sentenced  him 
and  his  companions  to  death."     "  At  Lacedaemon  the  Cor- 
inthian ambassadors  met  Alcibiades  and  his  fellow  exiles. 
He  had  sailed  at  once  from  Thurii  in  a  trading  vessel  to 
Cyllene  in  Elis,  and  thence  proceeded  to  Lacedaemon  on 
the  invitation  of  the  Lacedaemonians  themselves,  first  obtain- 
ing a  safe-conduct."     It  looks  as  though  Thucydides  had 
taken  more  than  ordinary  pains  to  give  minute  details  on  a 
controverted  point.     For  romantic,  apologetic,  and  hostile 
invention  became  busy  with  the  career  of  Alcibiades,  as 
with  that  of  Themistocles,  as  soon  as  he  had  left  his  own 
country  and  become  busy  in  foreign  parts.     Like  Themis- 
tocles, romantic  invention  made  Alcibiades  take  refuge  first 
in  Argos,  and  be  driven  from  there  into  the  service  of  his 
country's  foes  by  attempts  of  the  Athenians  to  have  him 
delivered  up  to  them.     This  version  relieved  somewhat  the 
heinousness  of  the  treachery  of  Alcibiades,  and  therefore  was 
readily  adopted  by  Isocrates  in  the  speech  which  he  wrote 
for  the  younger  Alcibiades,  —  a  speech  which  is  largely  an 
apology  for  his  client's  father.    "  Considering  himself  out- 
raged in  that  when  he  was  at  home  the  people  would  not  try 
his  case,  but  when  he  was  absent  condemned  him,  not  even  so 
did  he  consent  to  go  over  to  the  enemy.     Nay,  he  was  so 
careful  to  do  no  wrong  to  his  native  city  even  when  an  exile 
from  her,  that  he  went  to  Argos  and  remained  there  quietly. 
But  his  enemies  were  so  wanton  as  to  persuade  you  [the 
people]  to  banish  him  from  all  Hellas,  and  publish  his  sen- 
tence on  a  stone  tablet,  and  send  envoys  to  demand  his  per- 
son from  the  Argives"  (De  higis,9).    But  the  undisputed 
fact  of  Alcibiades'  betrayal  to  the  Messenians  of  Athenian 
designs  upon  their  city  (xxii  1)  revealed  clearly  his  willing- 
ness to  i^y  the  r6le  of  arch-traitor. 

The  statements  of  Thucydides  were  evidently  followed  by 
Ephorus  (as  represented  in  Diodorus,  xiii  5,  7) ;  the  more 
romantic  inventions  by  Theopompus  (as  represented  in  the 
citation  from  Satyrus  in  Athenaeus,  p.  534  b,  and  in  Nepos, 


(i 


290  NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 

Ale  iv  4  •  xi.  3.  In  the  latter,  Alcibiades  is  made  to  show 
his  wonderful  power  of  adapting  himself  to  varying  surroimd- 
ings  by  visiting  Thebes,  and  even  Thessaly,  rather  than 
Argos.  More  than  two  years  elapsed  between  his  recaU 
from  Sicily  and  his  appearance  in  Ionia  with  a  Spartan  fleet 
(chap.  xxiv.  1),  and  his  wanderings  in  exile  were  as  mythi- 
cal  as  those  of  Themistocles.      See  Busolt,  GrMi.  GescK 

in.  p.  1328.  .        ,        '     . 

XXIII.  2.  Thucydides  puts  a  long  speech  mto  the  moutn 
of  Alcibiades,  by  which  the  measures  briefly  noted  in  this 
paragraph  were  successfully  urged  upon  the  Spartans  (vu 
89-93).  It  is  one  of  the  historian's  most  iHuminating  char- 
acter-speeches, «  no  less  masterly  ",  says  Grote,  « in  reference 
to  the  purpose  and  the  audience,  than  mfamous  as  an  mdi- 
cation  of  the  character  of  the  speaker." 

GyUppus:    see    on  the   Nicias,   xviiL  5.     It  was    not 
unta  the  autumn  of  414  that  he  effected  his  entry  into 

Syracuse.  ,         .    ^ 

Deceleia:  a  mountain  citadel  of  Attica,  about  fourteen 
miles  from  Athens  towards  Boeotia  (Thuc,  viL  19,  2),  com- 
manding the  Athenian  plain,  and  visible  from  Athens.     It 
commanded  also  the  shortest  routes  by  land  from  Athens  to 
Boeotia  and  Euboea.     Its  occupation  and  fortification  by  the 
Spartans  in  the  spring  of  413  put  a  new  phase  on  the  struggle 
with  Athens,  and  proved  more  than  a  full  retaUation  for  the 
Athenian  occupation  of  Pylos  in  Messenia.     Attica  suffered 
now  from  a  permanent  instead  of  a  transitory  mvasion,  of 
which  there  had  been  five  during  the  first  decade  of  the  war, 
and  Athens,  as  Grote  says,  «  instead  of  a  city,  was  reduced 
to  the  condition  of  something  like  a  military  post."    In 
Thucydides,  vi.  91,  6  f.,  Alcibiades  thus  sums  up  the  advan- 
tages  which  the  Spartans  would  gain  by  the  occupation  of 
Deceleia :  "  The  whole  stock  of  the  country  will  fall  mto 
your  hands.    The  slaves  will  come  over  to  you  of  then:  own 
accord;  what  there  is  besides  will  be  seized  by  you.    The 
Athenians  will  at  once  be  deprived  of  the  revenues  which 
they  obtain  from  the  silver  mines  of  Laurium,  and  of  all  the 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


291 


profits  which  they  make  by  the  land  or  by  the  law  courts. 
Above  all,  the  customary  tribute  will  fail ;  for  their  allies, 
when  they  see  that  you  are  carrying  on  the  war  in  earnest, 
will  not  mind  them." 

XXIII.  3-5.     These  delightfully  rhetorical  paragraphs  are 
probably  based  on  the  romantic  version  of  Theopompus  (see 
on  §  1).     Describmg  the  arts  of  a  flatterer,  Plutarch  says 
{Quom.  aduL  etc.,  7=Morals,  p.  52  E) :  «  Besides  this,  I  appeal 
to  the  practices  of  men  notorious  for  flattery  and  popularity 
to  back  my  observation.     Witness  he  who  topped  them  all, 
Alcibiades,  who,  when  he  dwelt  at  Athens,  was  as  arch  and 
witty  as  any  Athenian  of  them  all,  kept  his  stable  of  horses, 
played  the  good  fellow,  and  was  imiversally  obliging;  and 
yet  the  same  man  at  Sparta  shaved  close  to  the  skin,  wore 
his  cloak,  and  never  bathed  but  in  cold  water.    When  he  so- 
journed in  Thrace,  he  drank  and  fought  like  a  Thracian ;  and 
again,  in  Tissaphemes's  company  in  Asia,  he  acted  the  part 
of  a  soft,  arrogant,  and  voluptuous  Asiatic     And  thus,  by  an 
easy  compliance  with  the  humors  and  customs  of  the  people 
amongst  whom  he  conversed,  he  made  himself  master  of  their 
affections  and  interests." 

Milesian  wool:  among  the  articles  enumerated  by  the  in- 
scription referred  to  in  the  note  on  xxiL  4,  are  two  Milesian 
couches.  The  Milesians,  like  the  rest  of  the  lonians,  were  at 
this  period  famous  for  luxury.  Their  couches  and  other  fur- 
niture were  celebrated,  and  their  woolen  cloths  and  carpets 
highly  esteemed. 

XXIII.  6.  No  child  of  .Achilles,  etc.:  the  first  part  of 
the  passage  in  quotation  marks  is  an  adaptation  of  an  iambic 
trimeter  by  some  unknown  poet,  which  Plutarch  uses  entire 
in  Quom,  adul.  etc.,  h  =  Morals,  p.  51  C :  the  flatterer,  striving 
to  adapt  his  nature  by  imitation  to  that  of  the  person  on 
whom  he  has  designs,  "  so  neatly  resembles  the  original  that 
one  would  swear,  — '  Achilles'  very  self  thou  art,  and  not  his 
son.' "     See  Nauck,  Trag.  Grace.  Frag?,  p.  907. 

The  selfs€tme  woman  still:  the  wan  Electra,  in  the 
Orestes  of  Euripides  (w.  128  f.),  as  Helen  goes  to  have  her 


292  NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 

shorn  locks  and  drink-offerings  placed  upon  the  tomb  o!  her 
sister  Clytaemnestra,  cries :  — 

«*  Her  locks  ?  behold,  she  shears  off  but  the  very  tips,  ^ 
To  save  her  beauty.    'T  is  the  selfsame  woman  still." 

I  XXIII.  7-8.  The  details  of  this  famous  scandal  are  given 
by  Plutarch  at  even  greater  length  in  his  Agenlaus,  chap.  iiL 
(c/.  the  De  tranq.,  6  =  MoraU,  p.  467  F,  and  Lysander,  xxiL), 
on  the  authority  of  Duris  of  Samos  (Introd.  p.  47),  whom  he 
generally  distrusts.  The  essential  features,  however,  are  ac- 
cepted by  Xenophon  {Hell.  iii.  3, 1-3).  The  more  sensational 
touches  only  are  due  to  Duris.  Thucydides  merely  remarks, 
in  his  lofty  manner,  that  Agis  hated  Alcibiades  with  a  deadly 
hatred  (viii.  12,  2 ;  45, 1). 

Was  refused  the  royal  succession:  although  he  had 
prevailed  upon  Agis  "  by  his  prayers  and  tears  to  declare  him 
his  son  before  several  witnesses  upon  his  death-bed  **.  So 
Plutarch  (Ages,  iii. ;  Lysander,  xxiL)  and  Pausanias  (iii.  8,  7) 

both  testify. 

Whatever  may  be  the  truth  about  the  parentage  of  Leo- 
tychides,  the  intrigue  of  Alcibiades  with  Queen  Timaea  was 
common  gossip,  as  is  shown  by  the  citation  from  an  unknown 
comic  poet  in  Athenaeus,  p.  574  d.  It  was  m  398  that 
Agesilaus,  a  half-brother  of  Agis,  became  king  of  Sparta  with 
the  active  support  of  Lysander.  He  disappointed  Lysander 
by  becoming  an  able  and  independent  monarch,  and  reigned 
till  his  death  in  361. 

XXIV.  1.  After  the  Athenian  disaster  in  Sicily:  with 
these  words  the  two  years  which  had  now  elapsed  since  the 
flight  of  Alcibiades  (xxii.  1)  are  passed  over,  so  far  as  the 
Sicilian  expedition  is  concerned.  They  are  covered  by 
the  narrative  of  the  Ni4iia8  (xv.-m.).  During  these  two 
vears  Alcibiades  was  active  at  Sparta. 

The  Chians,  Lesbians,  and  Oyzioenes:  as  a  result  of 
the  Sicilian  disaster,  the  aUies  of  Athens  "  were  everywhere 
willing  even  beyond  their  power  to  revolt ;  for  they  judged 
by  their  excited  feelings,  and  would  not  admit  a  possibility 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


293 


that  the  Athenians  could  survive  another  summer "  (Thuc, 
viii  2, 2).  The  Euboeans  sent  envoys  to  negotiate  with  King 
Agis,  who  was  in  command  at  Deceleia.  He  accepted  their 
proposals,  and  was  about  to  make  an  expedition  into  the 
island,  when  envoys  came  to  him  from  Lesbos,  which  was 
likewise  anxious  to  revolt.  As  the  Boeotians  favored  the 
Lesbians,  "Agis  was  persuaded  to  defer  the  expedition  to 
Euboea  while  he  prepared  to  assist  the  Lesbians.  .  .  .  While 
he  was  supporting  the  Lesbians,  certain  Chians  and  Ery- 
thraeans  (who  were  also  ready  to  revolt)  had  recourse,  not 
to  Agis,  but  to  Lacedaemon ;  they  were  accompanied  by  an 
envoy  from  Tissaphernes,  whom  King  Darius  the  son  of  Ar- 
taxerxes  had  appointed  to  be  governor  of  the  provinces  on 
the  coast  of  Asia.  Tissaphernes  too  was  inviting  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Lacedaemonians,  and  promised  to  maintain  their 
troops.  .  .  .  He  hoped  also  to  make  the  Lacedaemonians  allies 
of  the  King.  .  .  .  While  the  Chians  and  Tissaphernes  were 
pursuing  their  common  object,  CaUigeitus  the  son  of  Laophon, 
a  Megarian,  and  Timagoras  the  son  of  Athenagoras,  a  Cyzi- 
cene,  both  exiles  from  their  own  country,  who  were  residing 
at  the  court  of  Phamabazus  the  son  of  Pharnaces,  came  to 
Lacedaemon.  They  had  been  commissioned  by  Phamabazus 
to  bring  up  a  fleet  to  the  Hellespont ;  like  Tissaphernes  he 
was  anxious,  if  possible,  to  induce  the  cities  in  his  province 
to  revolt  from  the  Athenians,  ....  and  he  wanted  the  alli- 
ance between  the  Lacedaemonians  and  the  King  to  come  from 
himself.  The  two  parties  —  that  is  to  say,  the  envoys  of 
Phamabazus  and  Tissaphernes  —  were  acting  independently ; 
and  a  vehement  contest  arose  at  Lacedaemon,  the  one  party 
urging  the  Lacedaemonians  to  send  a  fleet  and  army  to  Ionia 
and  Chios,  the  other  to  begin  with  the  Hellespont"  (Thuc, 
viii  4-6).  These  extracts  show  how  inaccurate  a  condensa- 
tion of  Thucydides  the  words  of  Plutarch  are. 

The  court  of  Phamabazus  was  at  Dascyliimi,  near  the  Pro- 
pontis;  that  of  Tissaphernes  at  Sardis.  For  the  first  time 
since  the  victories  of  Cimon  Persia  intrudes  herself  into  Hel- 
lenic affairs.    She  was  destined  to  play  an  important  part 


i 


294  NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 

there  untU  the  conquests  of  Alexander.  The  Great  King  had 
never  renounced  his  claims  upon  the  Greek  cities  of  Asia 
Minor  which  had  withdrawn  from  his  allegiance  and  become 
a  part  of  the  Athenian  empire.  He  now  ordered  his  satraps 
at  Sardis  and  DascyUum  to  coUect  arrears  of  tribute  from 
those  cities.  This  they  could  do  only  in  case  the  cities  were 
freed  from  their  subjection  to  Athens,  and  to  free  them  from 
that  subjection  the  aid  of  Sparta  and  her  fleet  was  essential 

The  persuasion  of  Alcibiades :  he  was  a  hereditary  f  nend 
of  Endius,  one  of  the  Spartan  Ephors  for  that  year,  and  the 
influence  of  the  two  together  was  sufficient  to  have  the  plans 
of  King  Agis  for  the  Lesbians  relegated  to  the  second  place. 
«  Agis,  when  he  saw  that  the  Lacedaemonians  were  bent  on 
going  to  Chios  first,  offered  no  opposition ;  so  the  aUies  held 
a  conference  at  Corinth,  and  after  some  deUberation  deter- 
mined  to  sail,  first  of  all  to  Chios  .  .  .  then  to  proceed  to 
Lesbos  ...  and  finally  to  the  Hellespont "  (Thuc,  vul  8  2). 
During  this  same  summer  (412),  however,  the  Chians  helped 
the  Lesbians  to  revolt,  but  the  Athenians  speedily  recovered 

the  island  (Thuc.,  viii  22 ;  23). 

Alcibiades  set  sailin  person:  the  ships  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesian  allies,  on  setting  out  from  the  Isthmus  for  Chios,  were 
attacked  and  roughly  handled  by  an  Athenian  fleet,  and 
finally  shut  up  in  a  lonely  harbor  on  the  Corinthian  coast. 
The  Spartans  were  to  have  sent  out  five  ships  to  join  the 
allies  "  under  the  command  of  Chalcideus,  who  was  to  be 
accompanied  by  Alcibiades,"  but  on  hearing  of  the  plight  of 
the  aUied  fleet,  they  were  disheartened,  and  thought  of  giv- 
ing  up  the  expedition.     But  Alcibiades,  with  his  usual  splen- 
did initiative,  persuaded  Endius  and  the  other  Ephors  to 
persevere.     They  would  arrive  before  the  Chians  could  hear 
of  the  defeat  of  the  allied  ships,  and  he  would  at  once  secure 
the  revolt  of  the  Ionian  cities.    «  To  Endius  he  argued  in 
private  that  he  would  gain  honour  if  he  were  the  instrument 
of  effecting  a  revolt  in  Ionia,  and  of  gaining  the  aUiance  of 
the  King ;  he  should  not  aUow  such  a  prize  to  fall  mto  the 
hands  of  Agis  "  (Thuc,  viii.  12,  2).     There  was  often  friction 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


295 


and  jealousy  between  the  Ephors  and  the  Kings  at  Sparta, 
and  Alcibiades  well  knew  how  to  reap  advantage  from  it  in 
this  case. 

Wrought  injury  to  the  Athenians:  as  detailed  in  Thu- 
cydides,  viii  13-44. 

XXIV.  2.  The  wrong  he  had  sufTered :  see  chapter  xxiiL 

7-8. 

Orders  that  he  be  put  to  death :  "  After  the  death  of 
Chalcideus  and  the  engagement  at  Miletus,  Alcibiades  feU 
under  suspicion  at  Sparta,  and  orders  came  from  home  to  As- 
tyochus  [the  Spartan  admiral]  that  he  should  be  put  to  death. 
For  he  was  hated  by  Agis,  and  generally  distrusted.  In  fear 
he  retired  to  Tissaphernes,  and  soon,  by  working  upon  him, 
did  all  he  could  to  injure  the  Peloponnesian  cause  "  (Thuc, 
viii  45, 1).  A  new  set  of  Ephors  had  come  into  of&ce  at 
Sparta  towards  the  end  of  the  year  412,  to  which  Endius,  the 
friend  of  Alcibiades,  did  not  belong,  and  which  was  in  sym- 
pathy with  King  Agis. 

XXIV.  3.  His  timely  discovery  of  this:  Astyochuswas 
not  bitterly  hostile  to  Alcibiades  (Thuc.,  viii.  50,  3),  and  may 
have  warned  him.  Romantic  tradition,  as  represented  in 
Justin,  v.  2,  6,  had  the  warning  come  from  Queen  Timaea. 

XXIV.  4-5.  In  describing  the  life  of  Alcibiades  among 
Persian  grandees,  romantic  invention  has  been  busy,  as  in  the 
case  of  Themistocles.  Many  of  the  rhetorical  details  in 
these  paragraphs  come  from  Theopompus,  who  found  in  Alci- 
biades welcome  justification  for  his  hatred  of  demagogues. 
See  the  Introduction,  pp.  32  ff. 

XXV.  1-9.  These  paragraphs  are,  on  the  whole,  fair  con- 
densation of,  and  inference  from  Thucydides,  viL  45-51.  In 
some  instances  the  very  phraseology  of  the  historian  is 
reproduced. 

XXV.  1.  Began  to  malign  them :  see  the  citation  from 
Thucydides  in  the  note  on  xxiv.  2. 

XXV.  2.  Loved  and  admired  his  adviser:  "For  he  gave 
his  full  confidence  to  Alcibiades,  whose  advice  he  approved  " 
(Thuc,  viii  46,  5). 


>  •«  ^  »»  »■  t«  «  • 


296  NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 

If  his  native  city  were  destroyed:  "He  knew  that,  if 
he  did  not  destroy  his  country  altogether,  the  time  would 
come  when  he  would  persuade  his  countr>'men  to  recall  him  ; 
and  he  thought  that  his  arguments  would  be  most  effectual  if 
he  were  seen  to  be  on  intimate  terms  with  Tissapheraes.  And 
the  result  proved  that  he  was  right "  (Thuc,  viii.  47, 1). 

XXV.  3.  At  this  time:  during  the  winter  of  412-411. 
While  the  other  Ionian  aUies  of  Athens,  b^inning  with 
powerful  and  wealthy  Chios,  were  falling  away  from  her  and 
clamoring  for  Spartan  help,  the  great  state  of  Samos,  in  con- 
sequence  of  a  democratic  revolution  there  which  threw  the 
oligarchic  party  completely  out  of  power,  remained  faithful 
(Thuc,  viii  21).  After  their  unsuccessful  attempt  to  reduce 
the  revolting  city  of  Miletus,  the  Athenian  forces,  on  the 
sagacious  advice  of  Phrynichus,  retired  to  Samos,  and  made 
that  island  their  base  of  operations  (Thuc,  viii.  27). 

The  fleet  of  Phoenician  triremes :  "  Alcibiades  also  ad- 
vised  Tissaphernes  not  to  be  in  a  hurry  about  putting  an  end 
to  the  war,  and  neither  to  bring  up  the  Phoenician  fleet  which 
he  was  preparing,  nor  to  give  pay  to  more  Hellenic  sailors" 
(Thuc,  viiL  46, 1 ;  5).  "  For  the  Phoenician  fleet  of  a  hun- 
dred  and  forty-seven  ships  came  as  far  as  Aspendus  —  there 
is  no  doubt  about  this ;  but  why  they  never  came  further  is 
matter  of  conjecture  "  (Thuc,  viii.  87,  3). 

XXV.  4.  Bring  Tissaphernes  over,  etc. :  "  He  would  at 
the  same  time  make  Tissaphernes  their  friend;  but  they 
must  establish  an  oligarchy,  and  abolish  the  villainous  de- 
mocracy which  had  driven  him  out "  (Thuc,  viiL  47,  2). 

XXV.  5.  Had  no  more  use,  etc. :  "  He  maintained,  aud 
rightly,  that  Alcibiades  cared  no  more  for  oligarchy  than  he 
did  for  democracy,  and  in  seeking  to  change  the  existing  form 
of  government  was  only  considering  how  he  might  be  recalled 
and  restored  to  his  country  "  (Thuc,  viii  48,  4). 

XXV.  10.  Afterwards:  in  the  summer  of  411,  Phryn- 
ichus having  been  deposed  from  his  command  at  Samos 
(Thuc,  viii.  54,  3),  and  having  shown  himself  an  ardent 
supporter  of  the  revolutionary  Four  Hundred  at  Athena. 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


297 


**He  was  afraid  of  Alcibiades,  whom  he  knew  to  be  cog- 
nizant of  the  intrigue  which  when  at  Samos  he  had  carried 
on  with  Astyochus,  and  he  thought  that  no  oligarchy  would 
ever  be  likely  to  restore  him  "  (Thuc,  viii  68,  3).     He  had 
been  sent  with  eleven  other  oligarchs  to  Sparta,  authorized 
"to  make  peace  with  Lacedaemon  upon  anything  like  tol- 
erable terms"  (Thuc,  viiL  90,  2).     But  the  friends  of  de- 
mocracy began  to  bestir  themselves.     "  As  yet  the  murmurs 
of  discontent  had  been  secret  and  confined  to  few;  when 
suddenly  Phrynichus,  after  his  return  from  the  embassy  to 
Lacedaemon,  in  a  full  market-place,  having  just  quitted  the 
council-chamber,  was  struck  by  an  assassin,  one  of  the  force 
employed  in  guarding  the  frontier,  and  fell  dead.     The  man 
who  dealt  the  blow  escaped ;  his  accomplice,  an  Argive,  was 
seized  and  put  to  the  torture  by  order  of  the  Four  Hundred, 
but  did  not  disclose  any  name  or  say  who  had  instigated  the 
deed.    All  he  would  confess  was  that  a  number  of  persons 
used  to  assemble  at  the  house  of  the  commander  of  the  fron- 
tier guard,  and  in  other  houses  "  (Thuc,  viii.  92,  2). 

Hermon :  the  name  is  wrong,  and  has  crept  into  the  story 
by  a  curious  error.  Emboldened  by  the  failure  of  the  oli- 
garchs to  pimish  the  murderers  of  Phrynichus,  the  people 
b^an  to  take  more  open  and  active  measures.  Some  hop- 
lites  who  were  at  work  in  the  Piraeus  upon  a  fortification 
designed  to  put  control  of  the  harbor  in  the  hands  of  the 
oligarchs,  seized  an  oligarchical  general  and  imprisoned  him. 
**  Others  joined  in  the  act,  including  one  Hermon,  who  com- 
manded the  frontier  guard  stationed  at  Munychia "  (Thuc, 
viii  92,  5).  In  the  course  of  the  story's  tradition  some  one, 
either  in  carelessness  or  of  set  purpose,  has  identified  the 
frontier  guardsman  who  slew  Phrynichus  and  escaped,  with 
Hermon  the  commander  of  the  frontier  guard  in  Munychia. 

An  Athenian  decree  of  the  year  409,  a  time  just  subse- 
quent to  the  restoration  of  the  democracy,  gives  us  Thrasyb- 
ulus  the  Calydonian  and  Apollodorus  the  Megarian  as  the 
assassins  of  Phrynichus.  To  each,  citizenship  and  a  grant  of 
land  was  voted,  and  to  Thrasybulus  the  honor  of  a  golden 


■:.-;*<*..»l"4'- •*>*'«  . 


298 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADE8 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


299 


crown  with  public  proclamation.    See  Hicks  and  Hill,  Oreek 
Historical  Inscriptions^ ,  pp.  148  ff. 

Some  time  before  this  the  murdered  Phrynichus  had  been 
tried  for  treasonable  conduct  at  Samos  and  found  guilty. 
His  property  was  confiscated,  his  house  torn  down,  his  re- 
mains exhumed  and  sent  out  of  the  country,  and  the  decrees 
against  hini  engraved  upon  a  bronze  pillar  (see  Busolt,  Griech. 
Gesch.,  iii  pp.  1511  f.).  The  vengeance  of  Alcibiades  was  cer- 
tainly complete. 

XXVI.  Nothing  could  be  more  explicit  and  clear  than  the 
account  which  Thucydides  gives  of  the  Kevolution  of  the 
Four  Hundred  (viil  47-97).  Plutarch,  however,  as  is  often 
the  case  when  he  attempts  to  describe  large  political  move- 
ments, gives  no  clear  idea  of  the  sequence  of  events.  He 
can  hardly  have  used  his  Thucydides  at  first  hand,  or  else  his 
charity  prevails  over  his  biographical  fidelity,  since  he  has 
nothing  to  say  about  the  exposure  of  the  impotence  and  cun- 
ning of  Alcibiades  when  his  oligarchical  friends  called  upon 
him  to  make  good  his  promise  to  bring  Tissaphemes  into 
alliance  with  Athens  (Thuc,  viii  56). 

XXVI.   1.    The  friends  of  Alcibiades :  the  oligarchical 
conspirators  in  the  Athenian  army  at  Samos.    They  never 
succeeded  in  getting  control  of  the  army  and  putting  down 
democracy  there.    But  they  did  inform  the  main  body  of 
the  army  "  that  the  King  would  be  their  friend  and  would 
supply  them  with  money  if  Alcibiades  was  restored  and  de- 
mocracy given  up",  and  "  the  prospect  of  the  King's  pay  was 
so  grateful  to  them  that  they  offered  no  opposition  "  (Thuc, 
viii  48, 2  f .).    At  a  conference  of  the  conspirators,  however, 
Phrynichus  protested  against  the  plan,  as  already  described 
by  Plutarch  in  xxv.  5.    His  objections  did  not  avail,  and  the 
conspirators  "  prepared  to  send  Peisander  and  other  envoys  to 
Athens,  that  they  might  manage  the  recall  of  Alcibiades 
and  the  overthrow  of  the  democracy,  and  finally  make  Tis- 
saphemes a  friend  of  the  Athenians  "  (Thuc,  viii  49).    Then 
followed  the  treacherous  negotiations  of  Phrynichus  with  the 
enemy,  as  already  described  by  Plutarch  in  xxv.  6-9. 


XXVI.  2.  The  so-called  Five  Thousand:  Peisander  and 
his  colleagues  arrived  at  Athens  and  proposed  their  plan, 
which  aroused  angry  opposition.     But  at  last  "  a  decree  was 
passed  that  Peisander  himself  and  ten  others  should  go  out 
and  negotiate  to  the  best  of  their  judgment  with  Tissaphemes 
and  Alcibiades."    On  the  denunciation  of  Peisander,  Phryn- 
ichus was  deposed  from  his  command  at  Samos  (see  on  xxv. 
10).    After  setting  a  secret  plot  on  foot  for  the  overthrow  of 
the  democracy  at  Athens,  Peisander  and  his  colleagues,  as 
they  had  been  directed  to  do,  set  out  to  interview  Tissa- 
phemes (Thuc,  viii  53  f.).    But  they  found  that  Tissaphemes, 
acting  under  advice  from  Alcibiades,  craftily  raised  his  de- 
mands beyond  even  their  willingness  to  accept,  and  at  last 
it  dawned  upon  them  that  they  had  been  duped  by  Alcibi- 
ades.    They  therefore  returned  in  wrath  to  Samos  (Thuc, 
viii  56).    But  although  they  gave  up  Alcibiades,  they  did 
not  give  up  their  conspiracy  against  the  democracy  at  Samos 
and  Athens.    Peisander  and  one  half  the  envoys  retumed  to 
Athens,  whUe  the  other  half  were  sent  to  set  up  oligarchies 
in  subject  cities  of  Athens.    Arrived  at  Athens,  Peisander 
found  that  his  plot  had  been  working  weU  during  his  absence, 
and  that  the  city  was  in  a  terrorized  state.    The  program  of 
the  oligarchs  had  been  made  pubHc.    «  No  one  ought  to  re- 
ceive pay  who  was  not  on  military  service ;  and  not  more 
than  five  thousand  should  have  a  share  in  the  government; 
those,  namely,  who  were  best  able  to  serve  the  state  in  per- 
son and  with  their  money  "  (Thuc,  viii  63-66). 

Only  four  hundred:  finding  all  things  ripe  for  the  final 
stroke,  Peisander  and  his  coUeagues  called  an  Assembly,  and 
secured  the  election  of  ten  commissioners  empowered  to  frame 
a  constitution,  which  should  be  laid  before  the  people  on  a 
fixed  day.  When  that  day  came,  the  commissioners  summoned 
an  Assembly  and  proposed  that  any  Athenian  should  be  per- 
mitted to  propose  any  resolution  whatsoever,  subject  to  none  of 
the  usual  penalties  for  unconstitutional  action.  This  proposal 
having  been  adopted,  Peisander  moved  **  to  abolish  all  the 
existing  magistracies  and  the  payment  of  magistrates,  and  to 


i 


■t.  1%  ;► 


300  NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 

choose  a  presiding  board  of  five ;  these  five  were  to  choose  a 
hundred,  and  each  of  the  hundred  was  to  co-opt  three  others. 
The  Four  Hundred  thus  selected  were  to  meet  in  the  council- 
chamber;  they  were  to  have  absolute  authority,  and  might 
govern  as  they  deemed  best ;  the  Five  Thousand  were  to  be 
summoned  by  them  whenever  they  chose  "  (Thuc,  viiL  67 
{.).      The  terrorized  Assembly  passed  this  motion  and  was 
dissolved.     Then  the  Four  Hundred,  armed,  and  supported 
by  armed  accompHces,  burst  into  the  council-chamber,  where 
the  CouncQ  of  Five  Hundred  were  in  session,  and  told  the 
Councilors  to  take  their  pay  and  begone.     The  Council  re- 
tired without  remonstrance,  and  the  Four  Hundred  proceeded 
to  rule  despotically,  and  to  make  overtures  of  peace  to  the 
Lacedaemonians  (Thuc,  viiL  69  f.). 

XXVI.   3.  Many  had  been  slain:  including   Androcles 

(see  on  xix.  1). 

When  the  army  in  Samoa  learned,  etc.  :  the  Four  Hun- 
dred sent  ten  commissioners  to  Samos  to  inform  the  army  of 
what  had  been  done,  and  to  pacify  them.    They  were  afraid 
that  the  Athenian  sailors  would  be  impatient  of  oligarchy 
(Thuc,  viiL  72).     But  these  commissioners  got  no  farther  than 
Delos  for  some  time.    There  they  heard  that  the  Samian  oU- 
garchs  had  just  been  crushed  in  an  attempted  revolution,  with 
the  aid  of  the  Athenian  army,  and  that  Samians  and  Athe- 
nians alike  were  now  bound  by  the  most  solemn  oaths  "to 
maintain  a  democracy  and  be  of  one  mind,  to  prosecute  vig- 
orously the  war  with  Peloponnesus,  to  be  enemies  to  the  Four 
Hundred,  and  to  hold  no  parley  with  them  by  heralds."    For 
news  of  the  revolution  at  Athens  had  already  come  to  the 
army  at  Samos  in  this  way.     The  Paralus  (see  on  xxL  5)  had 
been  sent  from  Samos  to  Athens  with  dispatches,  and  its  crew 
seized  by  the  Four  Hundred.     Its  commander,  however,  made 
his  escape,  and  got  back  to  Samos  with  wUdly  exaggerated 
stories  of  the  outrageous  proceedings  of  the  Four  Hundred. 
The  commissioners  of  the  Four  Hundred  halting  at  Delos 
heard  also  that  the  Athenian  army  at  Samos  had  appointed 
new  generals  and  trierarchs  who  could  not  be  suspected  of 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


301 


oligarchical  sympathies,  and  considered  that  Athens  had  re- 
volted from  them,  and  that  they  were  strong  enough,  with 
Samian  aid  and  sympathy,  to  put  down  the  revolt  (Thuc, 
viii.  72-77).  Strangely  enough,  the  revived  democracy  in 
the  Athenian  army  at  Samos  in  its  turn  looked  to  Alcibiades 
for  salvation,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  oligarchic  conspira- 
tors had  found  his  promises  to  bring  Tissaphemes  over  to 
their  side  vain  and  false.  "  Alcibiades,"  they  said,  "  if  we 
procure  his  recall  and  pardon,  will  be  delighted  to  obtain  for 
us  the  alliance  of  the  King  "  (Thuc,  viiL  76,  7). 

Started  to  sail  to  the  Piraeus :  this  happened  twice.  The 
first  time  it  was  in  consequence  of  the  speech  of  Alcibiades 
to  them  after  he  had  been  brought  over  from  Tissaphemes  to 
Samos  with  promise  of  full  pardon.  He  lamented  the  cruel 
fate  which  had  banished  him ;  inspired  them  with  bright 
hopes  of  victory ;  and  assured  them  that  Tissaphemes  had 
promised  him  to  bring  up  the  Phoenician  ships  which  were 
at  Aspendus  to  assist  the  Athenians  and  not  the  Lacedae- 
monians, provided  only  that  Alcibiades  were  restored  to 
power.  **  The  Athenians  immediately  appointed  him  a  col- 
league of  their  other  generals,  and  placed  everything  in  his 
hands  ...  so  excited  were  they  that  under  the  influence  of 
his  words  they  despised  the  Peloponnesians,  and  were  ready 
to  sail  at  once  for  the  Piraeus."  But  Alcibiades  forbade 
them  to  do  this  and  leave  so  powerful  an  enemy  behind  them. 
He  would  go  at  once  to  Tissaphemes,  and  devote  himself 
to  the  conduct  of  the  war ;  and  to  him  he  went  "  straight 
from  the  assembly  ".  He  wished  to  have  the  Athenians  think 
that  he  did  nothing  without  Tissaphemes,  and  also  to  show 
Tissaphemes  that  he  was  now  general  of  the  Athenians,  and 
could  be  of  service  to  him.  "  Thus  Alcibiades  frightened  the 
Athenians  with  Tissaphemes,  and  Tissaphemes  with  the  Ath- 
enians "  (Thuc,  viiL  81  f.). 

But  it  is  the  second  threat  of  the  army  to  sail  to  the  Pi- 
raeus which  Plutarch  here  has  in  mind  (see  the  next  note). 

XXVI.  4.  The  salvation  of  the  city:  after  Alcibiades  had 
satisfied  himself  that  Tissaphemes  was  still  minded  to  aid 


302 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


NOTES  ON  THE   ALCIBIADES 


308 


neither  Athenians  nor  Peloponnesians,  hut  to  allow  them  to 
wear  one  another  out,  he  returned  to  the  army  at  Samos. 
Thither  came  also  at  last  the  envoys  of  the  Four  Hundred 
who  had  been  tarrying  at  Delos.  At  an  assembly  of  the  army, 
they  attempted  to  defend  the  revolution  at  Athens,  but  the 
more  they  said  the  more  furious  the  army  became,  and  again 
insisted  on  sailing  to  the  Piraeus.  «  Then  Alcibiades  appears 
to  have  done  as  eminent  a  service  to  the  state  as  any  man  ever 
did.  For  if  the  Athenians  at  Samos  in  their  excitement  had 
been  allowed  to  sail  against  their  fellow-citizens,  the  enemy 
would  instantly  have  obtained  possession  of  Ionia  and  the 
Hellespont.  This  he  prevented,  and  at  that  moment  no  one 
else  could  have  restrained  the  multitude  :  but  he  did  restrain 
them,  and  with  sharp  words  protected  the  envoys  against  the 
fury  of  individuals  in  the  crowd  "  (Thuc,  viii  85  i). 

XXVI.   6.  Thrasybulus did  the  shouting :  this  is 

not  Thucydidean  testimony,  but  inference,  probably,  from  the 
well  known  facts  that  Thrasybulus  was  prominent  in  restor- 
ing the  democracy  at  Samos,  and  had  insisted  on  the  recall  of 
Alcibiades  (Thuc,  viii.  81, 1).  As  a  bit  of  literary  embellish- 
ment, it  may  have  been  suggested  by  the  famous  story  of 
Darius  arriving  at  the  Danube  on  his  retreat  from  Scythia, 
finding  his  bridge  broken  up,  and  bidding  "  an  Egyptian,  who 
had  a  louder  voice  than  any  man  in  the  world  ",  call  Histi- 
aeus  the  Milesian  (Herod.,  iv.  141). 

XXVI.  7.  Credited  with  this  diversion  of  the  ships:  and 
with  perfect  justice,  since  it  was  undoubtedly  Alcibiades 
who  had  suggested  to  Tissaphemes  the  policy  of  wearing 
both  contestants  out,  and  helping  neither,  though  promising 
aid  to  both.  When  the  Peloponnesians  had  become  angry 
with  Tissaphemes  because  of  his  repeated  deceptions,  the 
Satrap  went  to  Aspendus  to  fetch  the  Phoenician  ships  up 
to  their  aid,  as  he  assured  them.  But  the  ships  never  came 
any  further  than  Aspendus.  Various  reasons  for  this  were 
given,  which  Thucydides  carefully  enumerates  (viii  87). 
But  the  real  reason  was  "  that  he  wanted  to  wear  out  and  to 
neutralize  the  Hellenic  forces  ....  and  not    strengthen 


either  of  them  by  his  alliance  ".  Alcibiades  knew  the  real 
mind  of  Tissaphemes,  and  when  he  leamed  that  the  Satrap 
had  gone  to  Aspendus,  promptly  sailed  thither  himself, 
promising  the  Athenians  to  do  them  one  of  two  great  services : 
either  he  would  bring  the  Phoenician  ships  to  them,  or,  at 
least,  prevent  them  from  being  brought  to  the  Peloponne- 
sians, —  a  promise  which  was  easily  fulfilled  (Thuc,  viii  88). 
For  it  was  perfectly  dear,  etc  :  so  Thucydides  thought 

(viiL  87,  4). 

XXVIL  1.  The  Four  Hundred  overthrown:  as  narrated 
by  Thucydides  in  viii  89-97.  They  had  usurped  the  power 
in  June  of  411 ;  they  fell  from  it  in  September  of  the  same 
year.  They  were  deposed  by  an  assembly  of  the  people, 
which  voted  that  the  government  should  be  in  the  hands  of 
the  Five  Thousand  (see  on  xxvi  2).  "  No  one  was  to  receive 
pay  for  holding  any  office,  on  pam  of  falling  under  a  curse. 
In  the  numerous  other  assemblies  which  were  afterwards 
held  they  re-appointed  Nomothetae,  and  by  a  series  of  de- 
crees established  a  constitution.  This  govemment  during 
its  early  days  was  the  best  which  the  Athenians  ever  enjoyed 
within  my  memory.  Oligarchy  and  Democracy  were  duly 
attempered.  And  thus  after  the  miserable  state  into  which 
she  had  fallen,  the  city  was  again  able  to  raise  her  head. 
The  people  also  passed  a  vote  recalling  Alcibiades  and  others 
from  exile,  and  sending  to  him  and  to  the  army  in  Samos 
exhorted  them  to  act  vigorously  **  (Thua,  viiL  97). 

The  friends  of  Alcibiades :  no  longer  the  oligarchical  con- 
spirators, as  at  xxvL  1,  but  men  who  believed  that  Alcibiades 
alone  had  the  ability  necessary  for  conducting  the  war 

against  Sparta. 

Set  sail  from  Samos:  he  had  returned  with  his  thirteen 
ships  from  the  pretended  visit  to  Tissaphemes  at  Aspendus 
(see  on  xxvi  7),  "  announcing  that  he  had  prevented  the 
Phoenician  fleet  from  coming  to  the  assistance  of  the  enemy, 
and  that  he  had  made  Tissaphemes  a  greater  friend  of  the 
Athenians  than  ever.  He  then  manned  nine  additional 
ships,  and  exacted  large  sums  of  money  from  the  Halicar- 


•M 


304 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


\\ 


nassians.  He  also  fortified  Cos,  where  he  left  a  governor, 
and  towards  the  autumn  returned  to  Samos"  (Thuc,  viii 
108,  1  f.)-  But  even  before  his  first  return  to  Samos  the 
seat  of  war  had  been  suddenly  transferred  from  the  Ionian 
sea  to  the  narrow  waters  of  the  Hellespont.  Exasperated  by 
the  endless  duplicity  of  Tissaphemes,  the  Peloponnesians 
under  Mindarus,  the  Spartan  admiral,  had  abruptly  left 
Miletus  and  sailed  for  the  Hellespont,  to  cooperate  with 
Phamabazus  against  the  Greek  cities  in  that  r^on  which 
still  remained  faithful  to  Athens.  They  had  been  closely 
followed  by  the  Athenian  fleet  at  Samos  under  Thrasyllus 
(Thuc,  viii.  99-103).  Thrasyllus  and  the  other  generals 
doubtless  left  orders  at  Samos  for  Alcibiades,  which  he 
obeyed  by  making  the  cruise  to  Halicamassus  and  Cos. 

XXVII.  2.  There  he  heard:  rather  at  Samos,  before  start- 
ing on  this  cruise. 

Hastened  to  the  assistance  of  their  generals :  not  until 
they  had  won  a  great  victory  over  the  Peloponnesians  in  the 
battle  of  C}Tiossema  (a  promontory  in  the  Hellespont),  re- 
covered the  city  of  Cyzicus,  which  had  revolted,  and  sum- 
moned reenforcements  from  every  possible  quarter  to  fight 
another  and  a  decisive  battle  with  the  strongly  reenforced 
Peloponnesian  fleet  (Thuc,  viii  104-107). 

By  chance :  this  is  not  likely.  The  phrase  is  taken  from 
Ephorus,  and  not  Xenophon,  who  now  succeeds  Thucydides 
as  our  chief  authority  (see  the  next  note).  Alcibiades  had 
probably  been  commissioned  to  keep  watch  of  Dorieus,  a 
Spartan  commander  with  fourteen  ships  at  Rhodes.  As 
soon  as  Dorieus  left  Rhodes  and  sailed  to  the  Hellespont,  at 
the  beginning  of  November,  to  effect  a  junction  with  Minda- 
rus, Alcibiades  followed  in  hot  pursuit  But  Dorieus  had 
about  twelve  hours  the  start.  His  arrival  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Hellespont  brought  on  a  general  engagement  between  the 
Athenian  and  Peloponnesian  fleets  off  Abydos,  which  had 
lasted  nearly  all  day  when  Alcibiades  came  up  (Xen.,  HelL 

i.  1,  2-5). 

XXVII.  3  f.     The   simple   and   straightforward  account 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


306 


which  Xenophon  gives  {HelL  L  1,  6  t)  of  the  course  of  the 
battle  off  Abydos  after  the  arrival  of  Alcibiades,  is  here 
colored  by  sensational  items  from  Ephorus,  of  whose  story 
we  get  a  good  idea  in  Diodorus  (xiii  46,  2-5).  It  is  char- 
acteristic of  Plutarch,  however,  to  make  his  hero  the  princi- 
pal author  of  the  victory.  Xenophon  says :  "  Victory  and 
defeat  hung  still  in  the  balance,  when  Alcibiades  came  sail- 
ing up  vnith  eighteen  ships.  Thereupon  the  Peloponnesians 
fled  towards  Abydos,  where,  however,  Pharnabazus  brought 
them  timely  assistance.  Mounted  on  horseback,  he  pushed 
forward  into  the  sea  as  far  as  his  horse  would  let  him,  doing 
battle  himself,  and  encouraging  his  troopers  and  the  infantry 
alike  to  play  theii-  parts.  Then  the  Peloponnesians,  ranging 
their  ships  in  close-packed  order,  and  drawing  up  their  battle- 
line  in  proximity  to  the  land,  kept  up  the  fight.  At  length 
the  Athenians,  having  captured  thirty  of  the  enemy's  vessels 
without  their  crews,  and  having  recovered  those  of  their  own 
which  they  had  previously  lost,  set  sail  for  Sestos." 

XXVII.  4.  Visit  the  Satrap:  "  After  the  above  incidents, 
Tissaphemes  arrived  in  the  Hellespont,  and  received  a  visit 
from  Alcibiades,  who  presented  himself  with  a  single  ship, 
bringing  with  him  tokens  of  friendship  and  gifts,  whereupon 
Tissaphemes  seized  him  and  shut  him  up  in  Sardis,  giving 
out  that  the  king's  orders  were  to  go  to  war  with  the  Athe- 
nians "  (Xen.,  HelL  i.  1,  9). 

Tissaphemes  had  been  at  Aspendus,  busy  with  his  ruse  of 
bringing  the  Phoenician  fleet  into  Ionian  waters  (see  on 
xxvL  7).  When  he  heard  there  that  the  Peloponnesian  fleet 
had  gone  to  the  Hellespont  and  Phamabazus,  he  hastened 
back  to  Ionia.  He  had  come  to  the  end  of  his  double-deal- 
ing with  the  Peloponnesians,  and  felt  that  they  were  now  his 
enemies.  **  He  was  also  disgusted  at  discovering  that  Phar- 
nabazus had  induced  the  Peloponnesians  to  join  him,  and  was 
likely  in  less  time  and  at  less  expense  to  be  more  successful 
in  his  war  with  the  Athenians  than  himself.  He  therefore 
determined  to  go  to  the  Hellespont,  and  complain  of  their 
conduct  .  .  .  ,  offering  at  the  same  time  the  most  plausible 


Vl 


306  NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 

defence  which  he  could  concerning  the  non-arrival  of  the 
Phoenician  fleet  and  their  other  grievances.  He  first  went 
to  Ephesus,  and  there  offered  sacrifice  to  Artemis  .  .  .  ,"  and 
with  these  words  the  work  of  Thucydides  breaks  off  abruptly, 
and  we  are  left  to  the  tender  mercies  of  Xenophon. 

XXVIII.  1.  "Thirty  days  later  Alcibiades,  accompanied 
by  Mantitheus,  who  had  been  captured  in  Caria,  managed  to 
procure  horses  and  escaped  by  night  to  Clazomenae"  (Xen., 

Hell  i  1, 10). 

Clazomenae  was  an  Ionian  city  on  the  southern  shore  of  the 
bay  of  Smyrna.  It  had  revolted  from  Athens  with  Chios  in 
412,  but  was  soon  reduced  (Thuc,  viiL  23),  and  successfuUy 
resisted  the  Spartan  admiral  Astyochus  (Thuc,  viii.  31). 
Part  of  an  Athenian  decree  ratifying,  in  408,  certain  agree- 
ments between  the  city  and  the  Athenian  generals  made  two 
years  earlier,  is  preserved  (Hicks  and  Hill,  Qruk  Historical 
Inscriptions^ t  pp.  146  f.). 

To  the  camp  of  the  Athenians :  this  was  now  at  Cardia, 
a  city  of  the  Thracian  Chersonese,  at  the  head  of  the  gulf  of 
Melas.     After  the  victory  of  Abydos  (early  in  November  of 
411),  the  Athenians  retained  only  forty   ships  at   Sestos. 
The  others,  some  forty  or  fifty  m  number,  were  sent  ofif  un- 
der different  commanders  on  different  errands,  chief  of  which 
was  the  collection  of  moneys  from  subject  cities  to  pay  the  ex- 
penses  of  the  fleet.    The  Peloponnesian  fleet  meanwhile  was 
receiving  subsidies  from  Phamabazus,  who  was  a  generous 
and  honorable  man,  in  great  contrast  with   Tissaphernes. 
Not  long  afterwards  Tissaphernes  arrived  in  the  region,  and 
Alcibiades  made  him  his  luckless  visit     During  the  captivity 
of  Alcibiades  at  Sardis,  Mindarus  restored  his  fleet  to  fight- 
ing condition,  and  early  in  February  of  410  « the  Athenians  at 
Sestos,  hearing  that  Mindarus  was  meditating  an  attack  upon 
them  with  a  squadron  of  sixty  sail,  gave  him  the  sUp,  and 
under  cover  of  night  escaped  to  Cardia.     Hither  also  Alci- 
biades repaired  from  Clazomenae"  (Xen.,  Hell  i  1, 11). 

Where  he  learned,  etc.:    according  to  the  trustworthy 
story  of  Xenophon,  which  is  here  rhetorically  abridged,  Alci- 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


307 


biades  learned  at  Cardia  that  the  Peloponnesian  fleet "  had 
left  Abydos  and  was  in  full  sail  for  Cyzicus  ".  Accordingly 
he  set  ofif  himself  overland  to  Sestos,  bidding  the  Athenian 
fleet  sail  round  the  peninsula  and  meet  him  tnere.  Just  as 
he  was  putting  out  from  Sestos,  Theramenes  with  twenty 
ships,  and  Thrasybulus  with  as  many  more  came  up.  Al- 
cibiades bade  these  commanders  follow  him  to  Parium  as 
soon  as  they  could  clear  for  action.  This  they  did,  and  tbe 
united  squadron  of  eighty-six  vessels  pushed  on  during  the 
night  to  Proconnesus.  "Here  they  learnt  that  Mindarus 
was  in  Cyzicus,  and  that  Phamabazus,  with  a  body  of  infan- 
try, was  with  him  "  (Xen.,  Hdl  L  1, 11-14). 

XXVIIL  2.  Boused  the  spirits  of  the  soldiers :  not  at 
Cardia.  On  the  day  following  their  arrival  at  Proconnesus 
(see  the  preceding  note),  Alcibiades  summoned  an  assembly 
and  heartened  up  his  men,  warning  them  that  a  three-fold 
service  was  now  expected  of  them  (Xen.,  Hell  L  1, 14). 

Giving  orders,  etc. :  this  had  been  done  on  the  day  before 
the  assembly  was  held,  immediately  upon  arriving  at  Pro- 
connesus (Xen.,  Hell  L  1, 15).  "He  had  further  caused  a 
proclamation  to  be  made,  that  any  one  caught  sailing  across 
to  the  opposite  coast  would  be  punished  with  death." 

XXVIII.  3-4.  Plutarch's  story  of  the  engagement  ofif 
Cyzicus,  besides  revealing  slight  embellishments  of  his  own, 
is  seen  to  be  a  blend  of  the  accounts  of  Xenophon  and 
Ephorus  (Diodorus,  xiii.  49-51).  The  latter  is  clearly  a  fan- 
ciful sketch,  full  of  the  author's  weU  known  military  con- 
ceits. These  two  paragraphs  of  Plutarch  correspond  to  the 
following  words  of  Xenophon  {Hell  i.  1, 16-17) :  "  When 
the  meetmg  [see  the  preceding  note]  was  over,  he  got  his 
ships  ready  for  action,  and  stood  out  to  sea  towards  Cyzicus 
in  torrents  of  rain.  Ofif  Cyzicus  the  sky  cleared,  and  the  sun 
shone  out  and  revealed  to  him  the  spectacle  of  Mindarus's. 
vessels,  sixty  in  number,  exercising  at  some  distance  from  the 
harboiu-,  and,  in  fact,  intercepted  by  himself.  The  Peloponne- 
sians,  perceiving  at  a  glance  the  greatly  increased  number  of 
the  Athenian  galleys,  and  noting  their  proximity  to  the  port. 


n 


308  NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 

made  haste  to  reach  the  land,  where  they  brought  their  ves- 
sels to  anchor  in  a  body,  and  prepared  to  engage  the  enemy 
as  he  sailed  to  the  attack." 

XXVIII.  5.  "  But  Alcibiades,  sailing  round  with  twenty 
of  his  vessels,  came  to  land  and  disembarked.  Seeing  this 
Mindarus  also  landed,  and  in  the  engagement  which  ensued 
he  fell  fighting,  whUst  those  who  were  with  him  took  to 

flight "  (Xen.,  Hdl  i  1, 18). 

XXVIII.  6.  "  As  for  the  enemy's  ships,  the  Athenians 
succeeded  in  capturing  the  whole  of  them  (with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Syracusan  vessels,  which  were  burnt  by  their 
crews),  and  made  off  with  their  prizes  to  Proconnesus.  From 
thence'  on  the  following  day  they  sailed  to  attack  Cyzicus. 
The  men  of  that  place,  seeing  that  the  Peloponnesians  and 
Pharnabazus  had  evacuated  the  place,  admitted  the  Athe- 
nians"  (Xen.,  Hell.  i.  1, 18  f.). 

A  dispatch  :  from  the  vice-admiral  of  Mindarus.  It  was 
taken  to  Athens  (Xen.,  Eell  1 1, 23).  If  we  trust  Ephorus  or 
Theopompus  (Diodorus,  xiiL  52  f.),  — and  most  historians  do, 
although  Xenophon  is  silent  on  the  subject,  —  so  great  was 
the  depression  at  Sparta  produced  by  the  loss  of  its  fleet  m 
the  Hellespont,  that  informal  overtures  of  peace  were  made  to 
Athens.  But  the  popular  party  at  Athens  had  come  to  its 
own  again  with  the  brilliant  victories  of  its  sailors,  and  cher- 
ished  anew  the  most  extravagant  hopes  of  final  success,  now 
that  Alcibiades  was  once  more  serving  them  with  his  un- 
equaled  military  genius.  The  overtures  of  Sparta  were  re- 
jected (see  Grote,  History  of  areece,  vi  pp.  345  f.). 

Nothing  shows  the  irresistible  magnetism  of  Alcibiades 
better  than  his  returning  from  captivity  in  Sardis,  discredited, 
after  aU  his  boasts,  by  the  manifest  enmity  of  Tissaphernes, 
and  at  once  taking  the  offensive  against  Mindarus.  He  had 
able  colleagues,  it  is  true,  in  Theramenes  and  Thrasybulus ; 
but  these  men  were  ardent  admirers  of  his,  and  willing  to 
cooperate  with  him  to  the  utmost  of  their  powers.  It  was 
clearly  Alcibiades  to  whom  the  phenomenal  success  of  the 
Athenians  at  Cyzicus  was  chiefly  due. 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


309 


XXIX.  1.  Not  long  before  this :  the  victory  of  Cyzicus 
was  won  in  the  early  spring  of  410.  During  the  following 
summer  Thrasyllus  conducted  an  imsuccessful  expedition 
into  Ionia,  returning  to  join  Alcibiades  at  Sestos  in  the  late 
autumn.  From  there  the  united  forces  crossed  over  to  Lamp- 
sacus,  to  the  fortification  of  which  they  devoted  the  winter 
of  410-409.  But  the  soldiers  of  Alcibiades  refused  to  be  in- 
corporated into  one  body  with  those  of  Thrasyllus  (Xen., 
Hell.  i.  2, 15). 

Their  bronze  trophy :  the  detail  of  material  is  not  given 
by  Xenophon  (HelL  i.  2, 10),  in  speaking  of  two  trophies 
which  the  Ephesians  erected,  and  is  thought  to  have  reached 
Plutarch  through  Theopompus  (Busolt,  Griech.  Gesch,,  iiL  p. 

1551). 

XXIX.  2.  Attacked  the  forces  of  Thrasyllus :  according 
to  Xenophon  (Hell.  L  2, 16  f.),  the  expedition  was  made  by 
the  entire  Athenian  force,  and  community  of  struggle  and 
victory  brought  the  two  factions  together  in  amity. 

XXIX.  3.  On  the  following  day :  "  This  expedition  was 
followed  by  other  incursions  during  the  winter  into  the  inte- 
rior, where  they  found  plenty  to  do  in  ravaging  the  king's 
territories  "  (Xen.,  Hell.  I  2, 17).  The  specific  detail  of  Plu- 
tarch's paragraph  must  come  from  Ephorus  or  Theopompus. 
It  is  fetching,  of  course,  to  have  a  commander,  who  was  still 
under  the  curse  of  the  Eleusinian  priesthood  (chap.  xxii.  4), 
treat  a  barbarian  priesthood  with  such  consideration. 

Betting  out  to  attack  Chalcedon :  this  was  in  the  early 
spring  of  409.  According  to  Xenophon  (HelL  L  3,  3),  Alci- 
biades was  supported  in  his  expedition  against  the  Bithynian 
Thracians  by  the  fleet,  which  followed  along  the  coast. 

Chalcedon  was  a  flourishing  Greek  city  in  Bithynia,  just 
opposite  Byzantium,  and  a  short  distance  below  the  entrance 
to  the  Thracian  Bosporus.  It  was  a  colony  of  Megara,  and 
therefore  Dorian  in  sympathy. 

XXX.  1.  Prom  sea  to  sea:  from  the  Bosporus  to  the 
Propontis. 

Pat  Pharnabazus  to  flight :  according  to  the  account  of 


h 


310  NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 

Xenophon  (EelL  I  3,  4-7),  ThrasyUus  faced  Hippocrates, 
and  Alcibiades  Phamabazus.  Alcibiades  not  only  prevented 
his  opponent  from  effecting  a  junction  with  Hippocrates,  but 
with  a  detachment  of  hopHtes  and  cavalry  came  to  the  assist- 
ance of  ThrasyUus.     Phamabazus  withdrew  to  his  camp. 

XXX.  2.  Levied  moneys :  the  exhausted  state  of  the 
Athenian  finances  compelled  the  generals  to  support  their 
expeditions  by  enforced  contributions.  According  to  Xeno- 
phon, Alcibiades  visited  the  Thracian  Chersonese  also  on  this 

expedition  (Hell,  i.  3,  8). 

XXX.  2-5.   Selymbria  was  a  Greek  city  on  the  northern 
shore  of  the  Propontis,  forty-four  miles  west  of  Byzantium. 
It  was  a  colony  of  Megara,  Uke  Byzantium,  and  had  once 
been  a  member  of  the  Athenian  aUiance.     In  the  spring  of 
410  twenty  days  after  the  victory  of  Cyzicus  (see  on  xxix. 
1)  Alcibiades  had  visited  Perinthus  and  Selymbria.     The 
former  place  admitted  him  within  its  walls ;  the  latter  re- 
fused  this,  but  gave  him  money  (Xen.,  Hell.  L  1,  21).     Now, 
a  year  later,  after  coUecting  moneys  in  the  Hellespont  (^  2), 
he  visited  Selymbria  a  second  time,  and  captured  it.    This  is 
all  that  Xenophon  states  (HeU.  i.  3, 10).    Diodorus  (xiu.  66, 
4)  adds  that  the  place  was  betrayed,  and  probably  found  in 
Ephorus,  from  whom  he  was  excerpting,  the  lengthy  descrip- 
tion of  the  cit/s  capture  by  stratagem  which  Plutarch  here 
incorporates  into  his  story.     Most  of  the  details  are  doubt- 
less the  invention  of  Ephorus,  although  it  may  well  be  that 
Alcibiades  found  within  the  city  a  party  which  favored 

Athenian  occupation. 

Portions  of  a  decree  confirming  the  agreements  under  which 
Selymbria  reentered  the  Athenian  alliance  are  preserved 
(Hicks  and  Hill,  Greek  Historical  Inscriptions  ^  pp.  155  f.). 

XXX.  4.  Thracian  soldiers :  after  the  capture  of  Selym- 
bria, Alcibiades  "  appeared  before  the  waUs  of  Byzantium  at 
the  head  of  the  men  of  Chersonese,  who  came  out  with  then- 
whole  force ;  he  was  aided  further  by  troops  ivom  Thrace, 
and  more  than  two  hundred  horse  "  (Xen.,  Hell,  i.  3, 10). 

Good  will  they  bore  Alcibiades :  cf.  chap,  xxiii.  4  f. 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


311 


XXXI.  1.  The  Athenian  generals:  ThrasyUus  and  Ther- 
amenes.  The  paragraph  agrees  substantially  with  Xenophon 
(Eell.  i.  3,  8  f.).  The  sum  of  money  paid  by  Phamabazus 
was  twenty  talents. 

An  Athenian  embassy :  to  win  the  King  over  to  the  sup- 
port of  Athens.  Such  an  embassy,  consisting  of  seven 
members,  was  escorted  by  Phamabazus  as  far  as  Gordium  in 
Phrygia,  where  they  spent  the  winter  (409-408).  In  the 
spring,  as  they  were  setting  out  on  their  further  journey, 
they  were  met  by  a  Spartan  embassy  returning  successful 
from  the  King,  escorted  by  C3mis,  who  had  been  newly  ap- 
pointed Satrap  of  Asia  Minor,  and  commissioned  to  aid  the 
Lacedaemonians.  Cyrus  had  the  Athenian  embassy  detained 
until  the  close  of  the  war,  three  years  later  (Xen.,  Hell,  i.  3, 
13 ;  4, 1-7). 

XXXL  2.  Came  back  from  Selymbria:  to  Byzantium, 
the  siege  of  which  he  at  once  began.  From  Byzantium  he 
went  towards  Chalcedon  as  far  as  Chrysopolis,  where  he  met 
envoys  of  Phamabazus,  and  whence  he  sent  his  own  envoys 
to  Phamabazus  at  Chalcedon.  The  two  commanders  not  only 
took  the  general  oath,  but  made  a  special  covenant  of  friend- 
ship with  one  another  (Xen.,  Hell,  L  3, 11  f.),  and  Athens  was 
thus  assured  of  Persian  aid. 

XXXL  3.  Then  he  saUed  off,  etc. :  this  stratagem,  too, 
like  the  one  at  Selymbria,  is  the  invention  of  Ephoms 
(Diodoms,  xiii.  67),  who  could  not  rest  satisfied  with  the 
simple  story  of  Xenophon  (Hell,  L  3,  14-22).  Clearchus 
the  Lacedaemonian  was  commander  in  Byzantium,  with  a 
force  of  perioeci,  helots,  Megarians,  and  Boeotians.  These 
he  kept  well  supplied  with  provisions,  while  the  Byzantians 
went  hungry.  As  long  as  he  remained  in  Byzantium,  the 
besiegers  made  little  headway.  But  when  he  left  the  city  to 
the  command  of  his  lieutenants  and  went  out  to  raise  forces 
wherewith  to  drive  off  the  besiegers,  the  Athenians  came  to 
an  imderstanding  with  the  party  of  Byzantians  who  were 
friendly  to  them.  These  opened  the  city  to  them  by  night, 
admitting  Alcibiades  and  the  army.    The  lieutenants  of 


312 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADE8 


Clearchus,  with  their  forces,  surrendered,  and  were  sent 
prisoners  to  Athens. 

XXXI.  4  In  garrison  at  Byzantium:  according  to  the 
fictitious  stratagem  of  Ephorus,  they  were  lured  from  the 
city  to  the  harbor  by  the  attack  of  the  Athenian  fleet. 

XXXI.  5  f.  These  paragraphs  are  merely  a  rhetorical 
amplification  of  Xenophon  (§§  18  t),  probably  in  the  man- 
ner of  Ephorus,  though  Diodorus  has  not  included  the 
matter  in  his  excerpts. 

Acquitted  the  men :  Xenophon  mentions  three  besides 
Anaxilaus  and  Lycurgus. 

XXXII.  1.  Set  sail:  from  Samos.     Byzantium  was  re- 
captured during  the  winter  of  409-408,  and  in  the  spring 
of  408,  having  assured  the  whole  Hellespontic  region  to 
Athens,  Alcibiades  went  with  the  greater  part  of  his  arma- 
ment to  Samos,  in  order  to  renew  the  struggle  for  the  subjec- 
tion of  Ionia.     Before  taking  this  up  in  earnest  again,  how- 
ever, he  wished  to  revisit  Athens  and  enjoy  the  rewards  for  his 
marvelous  successes.    He  plundered  Caria  to  raise  one  hun- 
dred talents,  sent  Thrasyllus  with  the  larger  part  of  the  fleet 
to  Athens,  and  Thrasybulus  with  thirty  ships  to  subdue 
Thasos  and  the  adjacent  Thracian  coasts.    He  himself  with 
twenty  ships  visited  Paros,  and  from  there  made  a  detour  to 
Gytheium,  the  naval  arsenal  of  Sparta,  wishing  to  reconnoiter 
the  triremes  said  to  be  building  there.     At  this  place  he 
heard  that  Athens  was  eager  to  see  him,  and  had  elected 
him  general  again,  together  with  his  friend  and  supporter, 
Thrasybulus.     He  therefore  hesitated  no  longer  to  return  to 
his  native  city,  after  nearly  seven  years'  absence  (Xen.,  Hell  L 
4,  8-12).     The  rhetorical  ornaments  of  this  paragraph  come 
from  Ephorus,  as  is  clear  from  Diodorus  (xiii  68, 2  f.). 

XXXII.  2.  Duris  the  Samian :  see  the  Introduction,  p.  47. 
His  lurid  description  is  given  at  greater  length  in  Athenaeus, 

p.  535  c,  d. 

Chrysogonus-  known  besides  only  as  the  author  of  a  poem 
entitled  "  Politeia  ",  attributed  by  some  to  Epicharmus  (Athe- 
naeus, p.  648  d). 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


313 


CaUipides:  famous  especially  for  his  realistic  imitations 
of  the  actions  of  ordinary  life.  Puffed  up  with  his  fame, 
as  Plutarch  narrates  {Ages.  xxL),  he  once  forced  himself 
upon  the  notice  of  the  Spartan  king  Agesilaus,  asking 
«  Dost  thou  not  recognize  me,  O  King  ? "  "  Art  thou  not ", 
said  the  King,  looking  him  full  in  the  face,  "  CaUipides  the 

buffoon  ? " 

XXXII.  3.  Theopompus,  Ephorus,  Xenophon:  see  the 

Introduction,  pp.  8 ;  32  ;  45  ;  50. 

Was  in  actual  fear :  "  When  the  vessels  came  to  their 
moorings,  Alcibiades,  from  fear  of  his  enemies,  was  unwilling 
to  disembark  at  once.  Mounting  on  the  quarter-deck,  he 
looked  to  see  if  his  friends  were  there.  Presently  his  eyes 
lit  on  Euryptolemus,  the  son  of  Peisianax,  who  was  his 
cousin,  and  then  on  the  rest  of  his  relations  and  other  friends. 
Upon  this  he  landed,  and  so,  in  the  midst  of  an  escort  ready 
to  put  down  any  attempt  upon  his  person,  made  his  way  to 
the  city  "  (Xen.,  Hdl  i.  4, 18  f.). 

XXXIL  4  This  paragraph  in  all  probability  represents 
Theopompus,  as  may  be  inferred  from  Nepos,  Ale,  vL  1-3 : 
*  Sic  enim  populo  erat  persuasum,  et  adversas  superiores  et 
praesentes  secundas  res  accidisse  eius  opera  ....  Hie  ut  e 
navi  egressus  est,  quamquam  Theramenes  et  Thrasybulus 
eisdem  rebus  praefuerant  simulque  venerant  in  Piraeum, 
tamen  unumomnes  ilium  prosequebantur,  et,  id  quod  num- 
quam  antea  usu  venerat  nisi  Olympiae  victoribus,  coronis 
lAiu-eis  taeniisque  vulgo  donabatur." 

Xenophon  {Hell  L  4, 13-17)  dwells  at  length  on  the  con- 
flicting feelings  both  of  his  friends  and  of  his  enemies  in  the 
crowd.  The  former  thought  him  the  ablest  of  the  citizens, 
unjustly  banished  in  consequence  of  the  malicious  plottings 
of  inferior  men,  and  driven  by  necessity  to  court  the  favor  of 
his  country^s  enemies.  "  Others,  however,  insisted  that  for 
all  their  past  miseries  and  misfortunes  Alcibiades  alone  was 
responsible :  '  if  more  trials  were  still  in  store  for  the  State, 
here  was  the  master  mischief-maker  ready  at  his  post  to  pre- 
cipitate them.' "    It  was  hard  then,  as  it  is  perhaps  harder 


314 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


315 


now,  rightly  to  estimate  **  a  man  whom  neither  friends  nor 
enemies  could  describe  with  moderation  **  ( Jebb). 

XXXIII.  1.  Before  this:  neariy  three  years  before,  in  the 
late  autumn  of  411,  after  the  overthrow  of  the  Four  Hundred 

(Thuc,  viii.  97,  3). 

On  motion  of  Critias :  Critias,  later  one  of  the  "  Thirty 
Tyrants ",  is  cited  by  Plutarch  twice  in  the  Cimon  (x.  5 ; 
xvi.  81),  and  once  in  the  Lycurgus  (ix.  4).  A  brilliant  fol- 
lower of  Socrates,  like  Alcibiades,  he  also  brought  odium 
upon  the  Master,  and  gave  color  to  the  charge  against  him  of 
corrupting  the  youth.  As  one  of  the  "  Thirty  Tyrants  \  he 
was  conspicuous  for  rapacity  and  cruelty,  and  brought  about 
the  death  of  Theramenes,  then  the  champion  of  moderation. 
He  was  the  author  of  tragedies  of  considerable  merit,  a  few 
fragments  of  which  survive  (Nauck,  Trag.  Graec.  Frag? 
pp.  770  ff.),  and  also  of  elegies,  or  elegiac  poems  on  political 
subjects,  six  fragments  of  which  are  extant  (Bergk,  FoeU 

Lyr.  Graecly  ii.*  pp.  279  ff.)« 

According  to  Ephorus  (Diod.,  xiiL  38,  2)  and  Theopompus 
(Nepos,  Ale.  V.  4),  it  was  Theramenes  who  was  foremost  in 
securing  the  recall  of  Alcibiades,  and  it  is  probable  that  Cri- 
tias merely  acted  for  him  in  bringing  in  his  formal  motion. 

XXXIII.  2.  At  this  time:  on  the  actual  return  of  Alci- 
biades, in  the  eariy  summer  of  408. 

Addressed  them:  according  to  Xenophon  {B^elL  L  4,  20), 
he  spoke  both  before  the  Council  and  the  Assembly,  "defend- 
ing himself  against  the  charge  of  impiety,  and  asserting  that 
he  had  been  the  victim  of  injustice,  with  other  like  topics, 
which  in  the  present  temper  of  the  Assembly  no  one  ven- 
tured to  gainsay."  Ephorus  evidently  followed  Xenophon 
(Diod.,  xiiL  69, 1).  Theopompus,  on  the  contrary,  if  we  may 
judge  from  Nepos  (Ale.  vi  4),  put  a  more  pathetic  speech  into 
the  mouth  of  Alcibiades  on  this  occasion,  modeled  cleariy 
upon  the  speech  which  Alcibiades  had  made  to  the  army  at 
Samoe  on  his  return  to  them  in  411  (Thuc.,  viiL  81, 2).  Plu- 
tarch here  follows  Theopompus. 

Crowned  him  with  crowns  of  gold:   this  seems  to  be 


Plutarch's  exaggerating  touch.    None  of  his  sources,  so  far 
as  we  control  them,  speak  of  such  an  honor. 

General  with  sole  powers:  he  had  been  elected  one  of 
the  generals  for  the  current  year  before  his  return  (see  the 
note  on  ttctcW.  1).  He  was  now  made  commander-in-chief. 
Here  the  sources  are  imanimous.  The  board  of  ten  generals 
constituted  the  ministry,  and  that  one  of  them  on  whom  "  full 
powers"  were  conferred,  was  the  prime  minister.  But  this 
**  ministry  "  was  subject  to  constant  direction  and  correction 
from  the  Assembly.  They  practically  held  office  only  from 
month  to  month,  and  only  on  condition  of  good  behavior. 
See    Gardner-Jevons,    Manual    of   Greek    Antiquities,  pp. 

517  fif. 

XXXIII.  3.  The  items  of  this  paragraph  are  not  given 
by  Xenophon,  but  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  for  thinking 
Ephorus  (Diod.,  xiiL  69,  2)  and  Theopompus  (Nepos,  Ale. 
vi.  5)  untrustworthy  here.  For  the  movable  property  which 
had  been  confiscated  and  sold  (see  on  xxii.  4),  restitution 
could  be  made  with  lands  belonging  to  the  state.  The  pillars 
on  which  his  condemnation  had  been  inscribed  were  thrown 
into  the  sea.  Theoilorus  the  High  Priest,  refusing  to  recant, 
is  an  artistic  counterpart  of  Theano  the  priestess  who  refused 
to  curse  (xxiL  4). 

Alcibiades,  who  had  often  aspired  to  be  the  political  heir 
of  Pericles,  now  stood  on  the  same  pinnacle  of  power  which 
that  great  statesman  had  occupied  so  long,  and  with  him,  as 
with  Pericles,  success  was  merely  a  question  of  retaining  the 
confidence  of  the  people. 

XXXIV.  1.  Prospering  brilliantly:  in  appearance  only. 
During  the  four  months  of  his  stay  at  Athens  (a  fatal  delay 
as  it  proved),  Lysander  came  out  to  Ionia  as  Spartan  admiral 
He  was  the  equal  of  Alcibiades  in  ability,  and  his  superior 
in  self-controL  Lysander  won  the  favor  of  Cyrus,  who  now 
took  the  places  of  Tissaphernes  and  Phamabazus  in  dealing 
with  Hellenic  affairs  for  the  Great  King.  Tissaphernes  had 
tried  to  wear  out  both  Spartans  and  Athenians ;  Phamabazus 
had  favored  the  Spartans,  but  had  at  last  wearied  of  them 


,1 


I 

i 


316  NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 

and  taken  up  the  cause  of  the  Athenians.     Cyrus,  however, 
was  an  implacable  enemy  of  Athens,  and  gave  Sparta,  as  rep- 
resented by  Lysander,  undeviating  and  generous  support     It 
was  this  combination  which  finally  turned  the  scales  deci- 
sively against  Athens.    The  coming  of  Lysander  to  Ephesus 
bears  a  relation  to  the  war  in  Ionia  like  that  of  the  commg 
of  Gylippus  to  Syracuse  to  the  SicUian  expedition.     Plutarch 
sums  up  the  situation  well  in  his  Lysander  (m.  1  f.) :     The 
Peloponnesian  war  having  now  been  carried  on  a  long  time, 
and  it  being  expected,  after  the  disaster  of  the  Athenians  in 
Sicily  that  they  would  at  once  lose  the  mastery  of  the  sea, 
and  ere  long  be  routed  everywhere,  Alcibiades,  returning  from 
banishment,  and  taking  the  command,  produced  a  great 
change,  and  made  the  Athenians  again  a  match  for  their  op- 
ponents  by  sea:  and  the  Lacedaemonians,  in  great  alarm  at 
this,  and  calling  up  fresh  courage  and  zeal  for  the  conflict, 
feeling  the  want  of  an  able  commander  and  of  a  powerful  ar- 
mament, sent  out  Lysander  to  be  admiral  of  the  seas." 

On  the  very  day.  etc.:  "on  the  very  day  of  the  festival 
of  the  Plynteria,  when  the  statue  of  Athena  is  veiled  and 
screened  from  public  gaze.  This  was  a  coincidence,  as  some 
thought,  of  evil  omen,  and  unpropitious  alike  to  himself  and 
the  State,  for  no  Athenian  would  transact  serious  busmess  on 
such  a  day"  (Xen.,  HelL  I  4, 12).  The  Plynteria  was  a  sa- 
cred washing-day,  on  which  the  robes  of  the  ancient  wooden 
image  of  Athena  in  the  Erechtheium  were  cleansed  by  the 
holy  gens  of  the  Praxiergidae.  The  Attic  month  Thargelion 
corresponded  to  the  latter  part  of  May  and  first  part  of  June, 
and  the  festival  fell  therefore  about  the  middle  of  June. 

XXXIV.  2.  One  hundred  triremes  were  manned:  after 
the  celebration  of  the  mysteries,  according  to  Xenophon  {Hell. 
L  4  20  f.),  Alcibiades  coUected  a  force  of  fifteen  hundred 
hoplites,  one  hundred  and  fifty  horsemen,  and  one  hundred 
ships.  Preparations  for  this  armament,  however,  must  have 
been  making  during  most  of  the  summer. 
The  Bleusinian  mysteries:  see  on  xix.  1. 
XXXIV.  3.   Since  Deoeleia  had  been  fortified:    in   the 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


317 


spring  of  413,  five  years  before,  in  accordance  with  the  advice 
of  Alcibiades  to  the  Spartans.    See  on  xxiii  2. 

XXXIV.  4-6.  This  detailed  description  reads  as  though 
based  upon  Ephorus,  but  Diodorus  has  preserved  no  men- 
tion even  of  the  celebration,  and  Nepos  is  silent  on  the  sub- 
ject. Xenophon  is  very  brief :  "  armed  with  this  authority, 
his  first  act  was  to  institute  anew  the  processional  march  to 
Eleusis ;  for  of  late  years,  owing  to  the  war,  the  Athenians 
had  been  forced  to  conduct  the  mysteries  by  sea.  Now,  at 
the  head  of  the  troops,  he  caused  them  to  be  conducted  once 
again  by  land  "  {Hell,  L  4,  20).  The  paragraphs  of  Plutarch, 
whether  of  independent  origin  or  not,  are  clearly  nothing 
but  a  free  and  imaginative  expansion  of  the  words  of  Xeno- 
phon. It  was  certainly  a  master  stroke  of  Alcibiades,  who 
had  been  accused  of  profaning  the  mysteries,  thus  to  restore 
their  celebration  to  its  customary  forms. 

XXXIV.  6.  This  paragraph  must  not  be  taken  as  history. 
It  rests  on  no  reliable  source.  It  is  inferential  literary  em- 
bellishment, such  as  Theopompus  might  have  allowed  him- 
self. With  Ionian  Greece  still  to  a  large  extent  refractory, 
and  Sparta  more  than  ever  sure  of  Persian  support,  there 
was  no  occasion  and  no  excuse  for  any  body's  dreaming  of  a 
"  tyranny  "  at  Athens.  Nor  could  the  Athenian  people,  even 
**of  the  humbler  and  poorer  sort",  have  desired  it.  The 
main  reason  why  the  profanations  of  the  mysteries  in  415 
had  so  agitated  the  people  was  the  fear  that  they  covered 
some  conspiracy  to  set  up  oligarchy  or  tyranny  (Thuc.,  vi.  60, 
1).  At  that  time  the  people  did  think  that  Alcibiades  "  was 
aiming  at  a  tyranny,  and  set  themselves  against  him  "  (Thuc, 

vL  15,  4). 

XXXV.  1.  Anxious  to  have  him  sail :  not  so  much,  we 
may  feel  sure,  because  they  feared  that  he  might  assume  a 
"  tyranny  ",  for  which  the  time  was  not  ripe,  even  had  Alci- 
biades cherished  the  idea,  as  because  they  longed  to  have 
Spartan  power  in  Ionia  crushed. 

Ck>lleacrues  of  his  own  choosinfir :  the  ten  generals  for  the 
year  408-407  had  already  been  chosen.     Alcibiades  was  now 


1 


.i 


11 


318 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


allowed,  as  commander-in-chief,  to  select  from  these  Aristo- 
crates  and  Adeimantus  as  his  special  colleagues  for  land 
operations  (Xen.,  Hell.  L  4,  21). 

Andros:  an  island  forming  a  continuation  of  Enboea.  It 
had  revolted  from  Athens  in  411.  Setting  sail  for  Ionia 
towards  the  end  of  October  (408),  Alcibiades  attempted  on 
the  way  to  carry  the  city  of  Andros  by  storm,  but  failed. 
The  situation  in  Ionia  was  so  grave  that  he  could  not  think 
of  tarrying  to  conduct  a  siege  of  Andros.  He  therefore 
left  Conon  with  twenty  ships  to  do  this,  while  he  himself, 
after  a  few  days,  proceeded  to  Samos,  and  made  this  his 
base  of  operations  during  the  ensuing  winter  (Xen.,2ZeW.  L  4, 
22  f. ;  5, 18 ;  Diod.,  xiiL  69,  5). 

Fresh  charges :  reading  KaivS^v  for  KOiviav,  with  Bekker, 

after  Haiting. 

XXXV.  2.  Would  not  believe  in  his  inability :  *'  nihil 
enim  eum  non  efl&cere  posse  ducebant"  (Nepos,  Ak,  vii.  2). 

The  Chians :  see  on  xxiv.  1. 

XXXV.  3.  An  almoner  of  bounty  in  the  Great  King : 
when  Lysander  with  a  Spartan  embassy  interviewed  Cyrus 
at  Sardis  and  urged  him  to  prosecute  the  war  against  Athens 
with  vigor,  "  Cyrus  replied  that  not  only  had  he  received 
express  injunctions  from  his  father  to  this  effect,  but  that 
his  own  views  coincided  with  their  wishes,  which  he  was 
determined  to  carry  out  to  the  letter.  He  had,  he  informed 
them,  brought  with  him  five  hundred  talents ;  and  if  that 
sum  failed,  he  had  still  the  private  revenue,  which  his  father 
allowed  him,  to  fall  back  upon,  and  when  this  resource  was 
in  its  turn  exhausted,  he  would  coin  the  gold  and  silver 
throne  on  which  he  sat,  into  money  for  their  benefit "  (Xen., 

EelL  L  5,  3  f.). 

XXXV.  4.  Four  obols :  see  on  the  NiciaSy  iiL  6.  Lysan- 
der had  asked  Cyrus  to  pay  his  seamen  a  drachma  (six 
obols)  per  diem,  on  the  plea  that  the  Athenian  seamen 
would  then  desert.  But  Cyrus  had  appealed  to  a  definite 
agreement  between  the  Lacedaemonians  and  the  King,  in 
accordance  with  which  thirty  minas  (t.  e,  3000  drachmas,  or 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


319 


18000  obols)  were  to  be  given  to  each  vessel  per  month, 
''whatever  number  of  vessels  the  Lacedaemonians  might 
choose  to  maintain  "  (Xen.,  Hell  i.  5,  5).  Since  the  regular 
crew  of  a  war  trireme  consisted  of  200  men,  this  allowance 
would  mean  three  obols  per  diem  for  each  man. 

To  the  reply  of  Cyrus  "Lysander  at  the  moment  said 
nothing.  But  after  dinner,  when  Cyrus  pledged  his  health, 
asking  him  what  he  could  do  to  gratify  him  most,  Lysander 
replied,  *  Add  an  obol  to  the  sailors'  pay.*  After  this  the 
pay  was  raised  to  four  instead  of  three  obols,  as  it  hitherto 
had  been "  (Xen.,  Hell,  i  5,  6  i).     Cf.  also  the  Lysander, 

chap.  iv. 

In  the  winter  of  412,  Tissaphemes  had  distributed  one 
month's  pay  among  the  Peloponnesian  ships,  at  the  rate  of 
an  Attic  drachma  a  day  per  man,  "  as  his  envoy  had  promised 
at  Lacedaemon."  For  the  future,  however,  he  proposed  to 
give  only  half  that  sum,  which  was  the  regular  wage  (Thuc, 

viiL  29). 

Sail  for  Caria,  etc. :  from  his  headquarters  at  Samos  Alci- 
biades did  undoubtedly  make  several  expeditions  during  the 
winter  of  408-407  for  the  purpose  of  levying  moneys.  But 
it  was  on  none  of  these  that  Antiochus  was  left  thus  in 
charge  of  the  fleet.  Lysander,  when  his  fleet  was  duly 
organized,  lay  quietly  at  Ephesus,  secure  in  its  ample  harbor, 
perfecting  his  ships  and  crews.  It  was  as  much  for  his  in- 
terest to  postpone  a  decisive  engagement  as  it  was  impera- 
tive for  Alcibiades  to  provoke  one.  At  length,  in  the  spring 
of  407,  Alcibiades  left  Samos  and  stationed  his  fleet  at 
Notium,  just  north  of  Ephesus,  in  the  hope  of  enticing 
Lysander  out  to  battle.  While  here,  he  heard  that  Thras- 
ybulus  had  come  down  out  of  the  Hellespont  with  his 
squadron,  and  was  besieging  the  Ionian  city  of  Phocaea. 
Alcibiades  sailed  to  join  Thrasybulus,  from  military  motives 
which  can  readily  be  imagined,  and  left  Antiochus  in  charge 
of  the  fleet  at  Notium  (Xen.,  Hell.  L  5, 10  ff.). 

Antiochus :  a  favorite,  perhaps  on  accoimt  of  his  rescue 
of  the  quaU  of  Alcibiades  (chap.  x.  1).    He  was  merely  the 


i 


i* 


320  NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADE8 

pQot  of  Alcibiades*  ship,  a  paid  officer,  and  yet  he  had  been 
set  over  trierarchs,"  who  paid  their  pilots,  and  served  at  their 
own  cost "  (Grote).  The  two  generals  who  were  colleagues 
of  Alcibiades  had  been  appointed  expressly  for  service  on 

land  (see  the  note  on  §  1). 

XXXV.  5  t  These  paragraphs  are  a  free  and  rather  brief 
reproduction  of  Xenophon  {Hell.  L  5, 12-15).  Dramatic  jus- 
tice demands  the  death  of  Antiochus,  but  neither  Xenophon 
nor  Diodorus  mentions  it  It  is  easy  inference  from  the  sim- 
ple story  of  Xenophon  that  the  Athenians  fought  with  no 
order,  but  in  haphazard  fashion,  owing  to  the  absence  of  their 
commander-in-chief.  They  lost  fifteen  triremes,  and  retired 
to  Samos.    Lysander  set  up  his  trophy  of  victory  at  Notium, 

Cf,  Plutarch's  Lysander,  v.  1  f . 

XXXVI.  1.  Thrasybulus,  the  son  of  Thraso :    to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  illustrious  commander,  who  was  the  son  of 
Lycus  (Thuc,  viiL  75, 2).     This  detail  probably  comes  from 
Ephorus,  judging  from  Diodorus,  xiii.  73,  6.    Ephorus  also  re- 
lated  the  mishandling  by  Alcibiades  of  the  allied  city  of  Cym4, 
ambassadors  from  which  brought  complaints  against  Alcibi- 
ades to  Athens  at  this  time.     But  Cym^  had  revolted  from 
Athens,  Uke  Phocaea,  a  fact  which  Ephorus,  a  native  of  the 
city,  glosses  over  by  this  invention.     The  charge  which  the 
enemies  of  Alcibiades  naturally  found  most  efifective  against 
him  was  that  he  was  again  acting  in  collusion  with  Tissa- 
phemes  in  an  effort  to  protract  the  war  until  both  parties  to  it 
were  exhausted.      Xenophon  mentions  only  the  charges  of 
negligence  and  dissolute  conduct  {Hell.  i.  5,  16). 

It  is  not  impossible  to  make  out  a  good  defense  of  Alcibi- 
ades. He  was  in  a  desperate  strait  owing  to  the  refusal  of 
Lysander  to  fight  The  operations  of  his  colleague  Thrasybu- 
lus, at  Phocaea,  offered  him  an  opportunity  to  levy  the  ever 
necessary  moneys,  and  also  to  lure  Lysander  out  from  his  safe 
refuge  in  the  harbor  of  Ephesus  in  pursuit  of  him.  In  such  a 
case  the  Athenian  fleet  at  Notium,  with  strict  orders  not  to 
engage  the  enemy  in  the  absence  of  Alcibiades,  might  have 
been  used  to  catch  Lysander  between  two  hostUe  squadrons. 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


821 


The  ruse,  if  such  it  was,  failed  because  of  the  disobedience  of 
Antiochus  (Busolt,  GrUch.  Gesch.,  iii  pp.  1574  f.). 

XXXVI.  2.  Near  Bisanthe  :  on  the  north-western  coast 
of  the  Propontis.  He  had  another  fortress  near  Pactye,  on 
the  Thracian  Chersonese,  south-west  of  Bisanthe.  It  was  to 
this  latter  that  he  retired  (§  3>  This  time  his  exile  was  self- 
imposed. 

XXXVL  3.  Chose  other  generals:  "accordmgly  they 

chose  ten  new  generals Alcibiades,  who  was  moreover 

in  bad  odor  in  the  camp,  sailed  away  with  a  single  trireme  to 
his  private  fortress  in  the  Chersonese  "  (Xen.,  Hell.  i.  5,  16 
f.).  The  sequence  of  events  is  here  not  very  clear.  Prob- 
ably Alcibiades  was  first  deposed  from  office,  and  Conon, 
who  was  conducting  the  siege  of  Andros  (see  on  xxxv.  1), 
was  sent  to  Samos  to  take  provisional  command  in  his  place 
(Xen.,  Hell.  i.  5,  18).  At  the  following  annual  elections, 
held  later  in  the  same  spring  of  407,  the  principle  of  a  smgle 
commander-in-chief  with  autocratic  powers,  and  two  assist- 
ants (xxxiii  2 ;  xxxv.  1),  was  abandoned,  and  a  board  of  ten 
generals  with  equal  authority  was  elected,  of  whom  Conon 

was  one. 

XXXVI.  4.  At  Aegospotami :  on  the  western  shore  of 
the  Hellespont,  directly  opposite  Lampsacus.  Plutarch's 
story  leaps  over  the  events  of  two  and  a  half  years,  —  from  the 
spring  of  407  to  the  autumn  of  405  (see  the  chronological 
table).  The  Athenian  fleet  under  Conon  and  his  fellow  gen- 
erals, for  lack  of  means,  was  compelled  to  confine  itself  to 
predatory  excursions  from  Samos  as  its  base.  Callicratidas, 
the  successor  of  Lysander,  managed,  even  without  Persian 
aid,  to  raise  a  powerful  fleet,  which  defeated  Conon  and 
blockaded  him  in  the  harbor  of  Mitylene.  With  the  last 
energies  of  despair  the  Athenians  sent  out  still  another  fleet 
of  one  hundred  and  ten  ships.  Callicratidas  was  defeated 
in  the  battle  off  the  Arginusae  islands,  and  Conon  was  re- 
lieved (summer  of  406).  But  this  achievement  exhausted 
Athenian  powers.  Well  planned  initiative  was  beyond 
them,  and  they  were  soon  absorbed  in  the  misguided  prose- 


<|i 


^^ 


vVl 


t 


'f 


322  NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 

cution  of  their  victorious  generals  for  neglect  of  duty.  Early 
in  405  Lysander  resumed  the  direction  of  Spartan  affairs, 
and  with  Persian  aid  equipped  a  powerful  fleet  About  the 
middle  of  the  summer  he  proceeded  to  the  Hellespont  and 
captured  Lampsacus,  in  the  harbor  of  which  he  took  up  a 
safe  position.  The  Athenian  fleet  pursued,  and  occupied 
an  unfavorable  station  directly  opposite.  No  master  mind 
dominated  their  counsels,  and  discipline  was  lax.  Their 
ships  numbered  one  hundred  and  eighty. 

XXXVL  5.  Aloibiadee:  from  his  stronghold  near  Pactye, 
he  could  see  the  operations  of  the  Athenian  fleet  (Xen.,  Hell. 

ii.  1,25).  ^     .    » 

Prom  Sestos:  about  two  mfles  south  of  Aegospotami. 
«  He  advised  them  to  shift  their  anchorage  to  Sestos,  where 
they  would  have  the  advantage  of  a  harbour  and  a  city.  '  Once 
there,'  he  concluded, '  you  can  engage  the  enemy  whenever  it 
suits  you ' "  (Xen.,  loc  dt.).  Even  in  his  self-imposed  exile 
he  makes  it  clear  to  us  that  he,  and  he  alone,  could  have 
coped  with  so  wUy  and  able  a  foe  as  Lysander. 

XXXVII.  1.  Tydeus  insulted  him:  "But  the  generals,  and 
more  particularly  Tydeus  and  Menander,  bade  him  go  about 
his  business.  '  We  are  generals  now  —  not  you,'  they  said ; 
and  so  he  went  away  "  (Xen. ,  Hell.  ii.  1,  26). 

This  is  the  last  mention  of  Alcibiades  in  Xenophon's  his- 
tory, and  also  the  last  well  attested  fact  in  his  career. 

HetoldhiaaoquaintanoM^eto.:  the  remainder  of  the 
paragraph  and  the  first  two  sentences  of  the  next  consist  of 
questionable  material,  furnished,  in  different  form,  by  Epho- 
rus,  or  Theopompus,  or  both,  as  may  be  seen  in  Diodorus, 
liii.  105,  3  f.  and  Nepos,  Ale.  viii  Xenophon  says  nothing 
of  it.  It'reads  Uke  the  mventions  of  Ephorus,  containing  here 
and  there  an  ingenious  and  plausible  inference.  Strangely 
enough,  Plutarch  does  not  use  it  in  the  far  more  extended 
story  of  the  same  events  which  he  gives  in  his  Lysander, 

XXXVII.  2.  The  event  aoon  testified:  for  five  days  in 
succession  the  Athenians  proceeded  as  described  in  xxxvl  4 ; 


I 


J 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


323 


then  Lysander  fell  upon  them.  Xenophon  gives  a  succinct 
account  of  the  battle  (ffelL  ii  1,  27-29),  and  Plutarch  an 
amplified  version  of  this  in  his  Lysander ^  x.  f. 

Eight  of  their  triremes:  not  counting  the  Paralus  (see  on 
xxi.  5),  which  Conon  sent  with  tidings  to  Athens. 

XXXVII.  3.  Three  thousand:  "asto  the  men  themselves," 
says  Xenophon  {Hell,  ii  1,  28),  "  the  large  majority  of  them 
were  easily  made  prisoners  on  shore,  a  few  only  escaping  to 
the  small  fortresses  of  the  neighborhood."  This  would  or- 
dinarily mean  many  more  than  three  thousand,  even  if  the 
one  hundred  and  seventy-one  captured  ships  were  not 
manned  with  the  full  complement  of  two  hundred  men. 
But  the  greater  part  of  the  crews  doubtless  consisted  of  me- 
tics,  slaves,  and  mercenaries,  so  that  three  thousand  might 
well  represent  the  actual  Athenian  citizens  among  the  pris- 
oners. All  these,  according  to  Xenophon  {Hell,  ii  1,  32), 
except  the  general  Adeimantus,  were  put  to  death.  It  was 
charged  that  the  Athenians  had  voted  to  cut  off  the  right 
hands  of  their  prisoners  if  they  were  victorious,  and  this  in 
spite  of  the  protest  of  Adeimantus.  Some,  however,  charged 
that  general  with  betrayal  of  the  fleet  to  Lysander,  in  recom- 
pense for  which  his  life  was  spared. 

In  a  short  time:  in  the  spring  of  404,  some  eight  months 
later. 

XXXVII.  3  — XXXIX.  Little  is  reaUy  known  about 
Alcibiades  from  this  point  on,  and  especially  about  the  manner 
of  his  death,  judging  from  the  orations  of  Isocrates  (xvi  40) 
and  Lysias  (xiv.  38),  which  were  written  in  397  and  395 
respectively.  "  The  conscientious  historian,  in  giving  what 
he  believes  to  be  true  history  in  this  matter,  cannot  go  much, 
if  any,  beyond  what  was  known  to  Isocrates  and  Lysias: 
Alcibiades,  soon  after  the  accession  of  the  Thirty  to  power 
in  Athens,  sought  refuge  from  enemies  whom  he  feared  the 
more,  with  Phamabazus,  whom  he  feared  the  less,  but  was 
soon  put  out  of  the  way  by  that  Satrap,  in  response  to  the 
demands  of  Sparta  "  {Trans.  Am.  Phil,  Ass.,  xxirvd.  pp.  25- 
37).     All  else  is  plausible  inference  or  romantic  invention 


< 


'  «*tt^eAte».flU&.  JMf«E4&.«*d»A;a^ 


324 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


825 


on  the  part  of  oral  tradition  or  rhetorical  historians  like 
Ephorus  and  Theopompus. 

The  account  of  Ephorus  is  preserved  for  us  in  distinct 
citation  by  Diodonis  (xiv.  11, 1-4),  and  doubtless  represents 
the  current  belief  of  his  time.  In  one  unessential  point 
Ephorus  controverts  the  current  belief,  viz,  in  his  over-ingen- 
ious and  improbable  interpretation  of  the  motives  which 
prompted  Phamabazus  to  send  his  murderers  against  Alcibi- 
ades.  It  was  not,  Ephorus  declares,  to  please  the  Lacedae- 
monians, as  was  generally  thought,  but,  in  his  own  interests, 
to  prevent  Alcibiades  from  forestalling  him  in  bringing  the 
rebellious  schemes  of  Cyrus  to  the  notice  of  the  Great  King. 
The  emissaries  of  Phamabazus,  Ephorus  goes  on  to  say, 
found  Alcibiades  encamped  in  a  certain  village  of  Phrygia, 
and  surrounded  his  tent  in  the  night  with  a  mass  of  firewood. 
When  this  had  been  lighted  and  was  in  a  great  blaze,  Alci- 
biades attempted  to  defend  himself,  but  was  overwhelmed 
by  the  fire  and  the  darts  shot  at  him  by  his  enemies,  and  so 

perished. 

Nepos,  three  centuries  later  than  Ephorus,  in  his  account 
of  the  death  of  Alcibiades  {Ale.  ix.  f.),  shows  us  that  by  his 
time  a  mass  of  invented  detail  had  accumulated  around  the 
simple  Ephorean  nucleus.  Nepos  combines  (as  he  himself 
states)  material  from  Theopompus,  the  rival  of  Ephorus; 
from  Timaeus  of  Tauromenium,  who  flourished  in  the  cen- 
tury after  Ephorus  and  Theopompus;  and  doubtless  from 
stock  Alexandrian  biography  through  which  these  versions 
came  down  to  him.  In  the  main,  however,  we  may  feel 
reasonably  confident  that  he  represents  the  tradition  of 
Theopompus. 

We  find  in  the  story  of  Nepos  many  accretions  both  to  the 
causes  assigned  for  the  death  of  Alcibiades  in  the  Ephorean 
version,  and  to  the  circumstances  of  it.  For  most  of  these 
accretions  it  is  not  difficult  to  suggest  a  probable  genesis. 
Alcibiades,  according  to  the  tradition  of  Theopompus  in 
Nepos,  learns  of  the  plotting  of  Cyrus  against  the  Great 
King,  and  asks  from   Pharnabazus,  at  whose  court  he  has 


been  treated  like  another  Themistocles,  an  escort  up  to  the 
royal  court,  that  he  may  make  use  of  his  knowledge  there  to 
gain  the  favor  of  the  King.  But  the  Thirty  at  Athens  warn 
Lysander  in  Asia  that  Alcibiades  must  be  put  out  of  the  way 
if  Lysander's  work  at  Athens  is  to  endure,  and  Lysander 
therefore  demands  Alcibiades  from  Pharnabazus,  dead  or 
alive.  The  Satrap  chose  to  violate  his  hospitality  rather 
than  to  alienate  the  Spartans  from  the  King,  and  sent 
Susamithres  and  Bagaeus  to  kill  Alcibiades  in  Phrygia, 
where  he  was  preparing  his  journey  to  the  King.  Coming 
secretly  to  the  place  where  Alcibiades  was,  they  took  meas- 
ures to  kill  him.  They  dared  not  attack  him  with  ordinary 
weapons,  and  so  by  night  they  heaped  firewood  around  the 
house  where  he  was  sleeping,  and  set  it  on  fire,  in  order  to 
kill  with  the  flames  one  whom  they  despaired  of  overwhelm- 
ing by  force.  Alcibiades,  roused  by  the  flames,  although  his 
sword  had  been  removed  from  him,  snatched  a  dagger  from  a 
faithful  Arcadian  friend  whom  he  had  with  him,  and  who  had 
vowed  never  to  leave  him.  This  man  he  bade  follow  him, 
and  then  snatching  up  what  clothing  there  was  at  hand, 
threw  it  upon  the  flames,  and  so  passed  safely  through  them. 
When  the  Barbarians  saw  that  he  had  escaped  the  fire,  they 
hurled  their  weapons  at  him  from  afar,  slew  him,  and  brought 
his  head  to  Phamabazus.  But  a  woman,  who  was  accus- 
tomed to  live  with  him,  wrapped  his  dead  and  headless 
body  in  her  woman's  garments,  and  burned  it  in  the  flames 
of  the  house  where  his  enemies  had  planned  to  bum  him 
alive. 

More  than  a  century  after  Nepos,  Plutarch  gives  his  artis- 
tic version  of  events  at  the  close  of  Alcibiades'  career,  follow- 
ing in  the  main  the  tradition  of  Theopompus  rather  than 
that  of  Ephorus.  Certain  deviations  and  additions  peculiar 
to  Plutarch  may  be  briefly  indicated  here,  before  seeking  to 
get  the  total  effect  of  his  narrative.  We  find  in  Plutarch  a 
little  more  definiteness  in  the  adventures  of  Alcibiades  be- 
fwe  reaching  Phamabazus.  It  is  in  Bithynia  that  the 
Thracians  rob  him,  rather  than  "  supra  Propontidem  ",    The 


3m&ECS&fil' 


"^♦•♦•^  • 


•«««&-" 


326 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


analogy  of  Themistocles  is  used  very  differently.    It  is  at 
the  court  of  Artaxerxes,  not  that  of  Phamabazus,  that  Alci- 
biades  wishes  to  revive  the  r6le  of  Themistocles,  and  to  this 
end  he  seeks  successfully  the  favor  of  the  Satrap.     In  Plu- 
tarch, Lysander  is  reluctant  to  meet  the  wishes  of  the  Thirty, 
and  only  when  the  Ephors  order  him  to  put  Alcibiades  out  of 
the  way,  does  he  require  Phamabazus  to  perfonn  the  deed. 
There  is  no  ghastly,  oriental  decapitation  of  the  victim  in 
the  main  story  of  Plutarch,  although  in  a  curious  way  he 
shows  his  acquaintance  with  this  grosser  phase  of  the  tra- 
dition.   Instead  of  being  on  a  journey  to  the  King,  Alci- 
biades was  living  in  the  Phrygian  village  with  Timandra, 
and  shortly  before  his  death  had  a  prophetic  vision.   Plutarch 
gives  two  versions  of  this  vision,  the  second  of  which  only 
is  based  on  that  form  of  the  tradition  which  has  Alcibiades 
beheaded  and  his  headless  body  burned.    The  version  which 
Plutarch  adopts  is  conformed  to  that  softened  and  pathetic 
account  of  the  final  disposition  of  Alcibiades'  body  which 
the  gentle  writer  either  constructed  himself  or  selected  from 
his  sources.     And  the  bravery  of  Alcibiades  is  much  en- 
hanced in  Plutarch's  story.     There  is  no  Arcadian  attendant 
to  assist  the  hero.    Alone  he  scatters  the  Barbarians  who 
have  set  fire  to  his  house,  and  alone  he  falls  by  their  mis- 
siles.   Timandra,  whose  escape  from  fire  and  missiles  is  not 
explained,  wraps  his  body  in  her  own  woman's  garments, 
and  gives  it  such  honorable  burial  as  she  can.     Ai.'nost  all 
the  essential  variations  of  his  story  from  that  of  the  tradi- 
tion of  Theopompus  are  such  as  one  would  expect  in  a  writer 
of  Plutarch's  temperament  and  character,  if  he  were  allowing 
himself  artistic  freedom  in  the  reproduction  of  the  material 
of  tradition.     His  result  we  must  regard  as  romantic  and 
beautiful  historical  fiction. 

XXXIX.  1.  Phrygia:  Lesser  Phrygia,  on  the  Hellespont, 
a  province  subject  to  Phamabazus.  Under  Roman  rule  in 
Asia  Minor,  the  traditions  of  the  death  of  Alcibiades  had 
fixed  themselves  upon  a  village  of  Greater  Phrygia,  which,  at 
the  time  of  Alcibiades'  death,  had  been  part  of  the  domain 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADES 


827 


of  Gyms.  In  this  village,  called  Melissa,  the  emperor  Ha- 
drian caused  a  memorial  to  be  erected,  which  was  surmounted 
by  a  statue  of  Alcibiades,  of  Parian  marble  (Athenaeus 

p.  574  t). 

XXXIX.  4  Lais  the  Ck>iinthian :  see  on  the  Nicias,  xv.  4. 

XXXIX.  5.  Some  say :  what  writers  (or  writer)  are  here 
meant,  is  wholly  uncertain. 

If  we  may  trast  the  elder  Pliny  (K  ff.  xxxiv.  12)  and 
Plutarch  (Numa,  viii  Jin,),  a  statue  of  Alcibiades  stood  in 
the  Boman  comitium  from  the  time  of  the  Samnite  wars 
down  to  that  of  Sulla,  to  commemorate  "  the  bravest  of  the 
Hellenes  ".  And  the  encomium  pronounced  upon  Alcibiades 
by  Isocrates  ( Or.  xvi.)  bears  witness  already  to  a  strong  re- 
action in  favor  of  his  memory.  Even  shortly  before  the  ca- 
tastrophy  at  Aegospotami,  Aristophanes  in  his  Frogs  (w. 
1431  ff.)  had  clearly  voiced  the  belief  of  many  that  the  only 
salvation  for  Athens  lay  in  the  restoration  of  Alcibiades  to 
command.  At  the  time  of  the  Macedonian  supremacy,  two 
generations  of  men  after  Aristophanes,  when  Ephorus  and 
Theopompus  wrote  their  ffellenica,  the  prevailing  attitude 
toward  the  memory  of  Alcibiades  was  one  of  admiration  for 
his  great  powers,  rather  than  of  detestation  for  his  excesses 
and  follies.  This  is  clear  from  the  reference  to  him  by  De- 
mosthenes (contra  Meid.  143-147).  How  prominent  a  figure 
he  became  in  men's  recollections  of  the  great  age  of  Athens, 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  when  Aristotle  wishes  to  illustrate 
the  individualizing  procedure  of  history  as  opposed  to  the 
generalizing  procedure  of  poetry,  he  selects  the  achievements 
and  sufferings  of  Alcibiades  {Poet.  ix.  4).  The  long  debate 
between  the  enemies  and  the  friends  of  the  memory  of  Alci- 
biades ended  with  the  triumph  of  his  friends.  And  Plutarch 
is  one  of  his  friends.  **  It  is  tme,  indeed,"  he  says,  in  com- 
paring Alcibiades  with  Coriolanus  (ii.  3  f.),  "  that  Alcibiades, 
by  his  resentment,  was  the  occasion  of  great  disasters  to  his 
country,  but  he  relented  as  soon  as  he  foimd  their  feelings  to 
be  changed ;  and  after  he  was  driven  out  a  second  time,  so 
far  from  taking  pleasure  in  the  errors  and  inadvertencies  of 


328 


NOTES  ON  THE  ALCIBIADE8 


their  commanders,  or  being  indifferent  to  the  dangers  they 
were  thus  incurring,  he  did  the  very  thing  that  Aristides  is 
so  highly  commended  for  doing  to  Themistocles  ;  he  came  to 
the  generals  who  were  his  enemies,  and  pointed  out  to  them 
what  they  ought  to  do." 


INDEX 


'i 


HI 


INDEX 

Full-faced  numerals  refer  to  pages  of  the  Lives ;  the  oth- 
ers to  the  Introduction  and  Notes.  References  to  the  Lives 
usually  cover  the  explanatory  matter  of  the  Notes  alsa 


Adeimantus,  Athenian  general,  164, 
318,  823 

Adonis,  festival  of,  79,  138  f. 

Aeginetans,  6S 

Aegospotami,  164 

Aetolian  disaster,  64, 198 

Agamemnon,  68 

Agatharchos,  the  painter,  180 

Agathon,  the  tragic  poet,  259 

Agesilaus,  9,  292,  313 

Agis,  142, 148, 144, 160, 167 

Agraulus,  sanctuary  of,  129 

Alcibiades,  in  Socratic  dialogue,  11  f. ; 
dates  of  birth  and  death,  12  ;  fam- 
ily, 111;  physique  and  character, 
68, 112;  boyhood  traits,  112-114; 
beloved  of  Socrates,  111,  114  f., 
117  f.;  treatment  of  Anytus  and 
other  lovers,  115  ff . ;  love  of  pleas- 
are  and  fame,  117  1 ;  lessons  to 
school-teachers,  118  ;  advice  to  Per- 
icles, 118;  at  Potidaea  and  De- 
lium,  11,  119;  insults  Hipponi- 
cus,  119;  his  wife,  120;  his  dog, 
121 ;  enters  public  life,  68,  121 ; 
his  oratory,  122;  his  stables, 
122  f.;  at  Olympia,  128;  rivalry 
with  Nicias  and  Phaeax,  76, 128  f . ; 
alliance  with  Nicias  against  Hy- 
perbolus,  74, 124  f . ;  his  jealousy  of 
Nicias,  71,  126  ;  plots  with  Argos 
against  the  Peace  of  Nicias,  71, 
126;    tricks  a   Spartan  embassy, 


71  f .,  127  f . ;  effects  a  Peloponne- 
sian  aUiance  against  Sparta,  and  is 
elected  general,  78,  128  ;  assists 
the  Argive  democracy,  129 ;  at 
Patrae,  129  ;  luxury  and  prodigal- 
ity, 129  f . ;  popularity,  78,  180 ; 
his  treatment  of  Agatharchus  and 
Taureas,  180 ;  his  Melian  mistress, 
181 ;  his  portrait  by  Aristophon, 
181 ;  his  meeting  with  Timon, 
181;  inflames  Athenian  passion 
for  Sicily,  76  £.,  182 ;  elected  gen- 
eral for  the  Sicilian  expedition,  76, 
188 ;  accused  of  impieties,  184 ; 
postponement  of  his  trial,  186  f . ; 
his  plan  for  conducting  the  expe- 
dition,  80,  186 ;  summoned  home 
for  trial,  80,  186,  189 ;  treachery 
and  flight,  189 ;  condemnation 
and  execration,  140;  at  Sparta, 
141  f. ;  intrigue  with  Queen 
Timaea,  142  f . ;  brings  Ionia  to 
revolt  from  Athens,  148  ;  goes  over 
to  Tissaphemes,  144  f .  ;  plots  an 
oligarchic  revolution  in  the  Athe- 
nian army  at  Samos,  146  ff .  ;  ac- 
cepts command  of  the  triumphant 
democracy  in  the  same  army,  148 ; 
the  savior  of  Athens,  148  f.  ;  iur 
trigues  with  Tissaphemes,  149 ; 
recalled  to  Athens,  149;  victory 
off  Abydos,  160 ;  visit  to  Tissa- 
phemes, 160  ;  victory  off  Cyzicus, 
161  f.  ;  besieges  Chalcedon,  168 ; 
captures  Selymbria,  164  f .  ;  wins 


832 


INDEX 


oyer  Phamabazus  to  Athens,  155  ; 
captures  Byzantium,  155  f.  ;  re- 
turns at  last  to  Athens,  157  ff.; 
conducts  the  procession  of  the  Eleu- 
sinian  mysteries,  160  f.;  is  asked 
to  make  himself  tyrant  of  Athens, 
161;  too  slow  in  subduing  Ionia, 
168 ;  his  fleet  defeated  by  Lysan- 
der,  168  f.;  deposed  from  com- 
mand, 168  f.;  warns  the  Athenian 
generals  at  Aegospotami,  164  f.; 
takes  refuge  with  Phamabazus, 
165  f. ;  is  put  to  death,  167  f . 

The  tradition  of  his  earlier  move- 
ments in  exile  influenced  by  the 
Themistoclean  legends,  288  f.,  295  ; 
he  achieves  the  position  of  Pericles, 
315 ;  his  fame  in  the  two  genera- 
tions after  him,  327 

Alcibiades  the  Younger,  8,  118 

Alcmaeonid,  111 

Aliens,  resident-aliens,  '*  metics ", 
264 

Ammon,  shrine  of,  77 

Amphipolis,  6  f.,  71 

Amycla,  nurse  of  Alcibiades,  111 

Anaxagoras,  96 

Anaxilaus,  of  Byzantium,  156  f . 

Andocides,  2  f. ;  42  ff. ;  Hermes  of, 
77,  187  ;  state's  evidence,  188 

Androcles,  1341. 

Andros,  161 

Androtion,  84 

Antiochus,  rescues  the  quail  of  Aici- 
biades,  181 ;  left  in  charge  of  fleet, 
1681 

Antiphon,  2,  63,  114 

Antisthenes,  111 

Anytus,  a  lover  of  Alcibiades,  115  f . 

Archippus,  118 

Argos,  188,  188  f . ,  140 

Ariphron,  111,  114 

Aristides,  ostracism  of,  75 

Ariston,  Corinthian  captain,  91,  99 

Aristophanes,  2,  61,  67,  118, 
180 

Aristophon,  his  portrait  of  Alcibiades, 
181 

Aristotle,  3f.,  12,  56 

Asinaria,  festival  of,  104 


Assembly,  Athenian,  dissolved  At 
"sign  from  Zeus",  78 

Astyochus,  treacherous  Spartan  ad- 
miral, 146  f. 

AUhides,  34 

Autodeides,  97 


B 


Boeotians  70  f .  ;  98 
Brasidas,  6,  8,  68  f. 


Calliades,  64 

Callias,  son  of  Hipponicus,  180 
Callicrates,  slays  Lamachus,  86 
Callippus,  murderer  of  Dion,  81 
Carthage,  in  the  schemes  of  AJcibi- 

ades,  188 
Caunians,  saved  by  Euripides,  106 
Ceos,  57 
Cerberus,  56 
Chalcedon,  158 

Charmides,  cousin  of  Andocides,  284 
Clazomenae,  78,  306 
Cleandridas,  father  of  Oylippus,  104, 

234 
aeanthes,  117 
Cleinias,  father  of  Alcibiades,  111 

,  brother  of  Alcibiades,  258 

Cleitodemus,  34,  218 

Cleon,  in  Attic  Comedy,  2 ;  57  f .  ; 

gets  command  at  Pylos,    65  ff. ; 

lack  of  decorum  on  the  bema,  68  ; 

death,  69 
Comedy,    Old   Attic,    as    historical 

source,  1  ff. 
Contributions,  to  the  State,  181 
Corinthians,    dissatisfied    with    the 

Peace  of  Nicias,  70 ;  aid  the  Syra- 

cusans,  237 
Coriolanus,  compared  with  Alcibia- 
des, 40 
Coroneia,  battle  of  (447  B.  c).  111 ; 

battle  of  (394  B.C.),  9 
Cothurnus,  nickname  of  Theramenes, 

57 


INDEX 


388 


Council,  of  Five  Hundred,  Athenian, 

186  f. 
Crassus,  55 ;  compared  with  Nicias, 

171  f. 
Craterus,  35  f. 
Critias,  3,  158,  314 
Cynis,  the  Younger,  9, 168,  318  f. 


Damon,  ostracism  of,  68 

Deceleia,  fortified  by  Spartans,  141, 

160 

Delium,  battle  of,  64 

Delos,  festivals  at,  59  f . 

Delphians,  seek  to  prevent  the  Athe- 
nian expedition  to  Sicily,  78 

Demosthenes,  Athenian  general,  in 
Aetolia,  64;  at  Pylos,  65  ff . ; 
prepares  second  expedition  to  Sic- 
ily, 90 ;  at  Syracuse,  91  ff. ;  his 
capture  and  attempted  suicide, 
108 ;  death,  104  f .  ;  ability  and 
fortune,  238 

Diodorus  Siculus,  46  f. 

Dion,  of  Syracuse,  81,  96 

Dionysius  Chalcus.  68 

Diphilus,  55 

Dowries,  in  marriage,  268 

Drachma,  183,  268 

Drama,  Athenian,  as  historical  source. 

Iff 
Duris,  of  Samos,  47,  157 


Earthquakes,  78,  148 

Egestaeans,  56,  75,  212  ff. 

Eleusis,  mysteries  of,  184;  parodies 
of  the  mysteries,  287 

Embassy,  Athenian,  to  King  of  Per- 
sia, 155 

Endius,  Ephor  at  Sparta,  294 

Ephorus,  10,  33,  45  ff.,  157 

Epinikion^  of  Euripides,  271 

Epipolae,  84 ;  night  attack  upon, 
98  f. 

Eupolis,  61,  184 

Euripides,  in  Attic  Comedy,  2  ;  saves 


Athenian  lives,  105  f. ;  cited,  63, 
69,  85,  118,  188,  148 
Eurymedon,   Athenian  general,  90t 
98,  238,  242 


V 


Five  Thousand,  The,  147 
Four  Hundred,  The,  149,  299  f. 
Flute-playing,   despised   at  Athens, 
113  f. 


O 


Generals,  at  Athens,  186,  190 
Gongylus,  Corinthian  captain,  87,  89 
Gylippus,  the  Spartan,  sent  to  com- 
mand at  Syracuse  on  the  advice  of 
Alcibiades,  141 ;  86,  88,   89,   90, 
104 


Hellanicus,  5,  34,  42,  187 
Heracleides,    brave    Syracusan  boy, 

97 
Heracles,  favors  S3rracuse,  56 
Heracleum,  at  Syracuse,  98 
Bermae,  at  Athens,  55,  77,  184,  186 
Hermocrates,  Syracusan  leader,  55, 

100,  104,  105 
Herodotus,  contrasted  with  Thucyd- 

ides,  5  ff 
Hiero,  agent  of  Nicias,  68 
Hipparchus,  first  victim  of  the  ostra- 
cism, 75 
Hipparete,  wife  of  Alcibiades,  180 
Hippocrates,  Athenian  commander  at 

the  battle  of  Delium,  64 
Hyccara,  Sicilian  fastness,  88 
Hyperbolus,  Athenian  demagogue,  in 

Attic  Comedy,    2 ;   ostracism   of, 

74f.,184f. 


Informers,  at  Athens,  61,  186,  187 
Isocrates,  3,  32,  188 


834 


Knuckle-bonet,  in  games,  201 


INDEX 


INDEX 


885 


If 


Lais,  the  Corinthian,  83, 168 
Lamachus,    Athenian     general,    78, 

79,  86,  188,  189 
Laomedon,  cheats  Heracles,  56 
Lanrium,  silver  mines  of,  60 
Leon  of  Byzantium,  96 
Liturgies,  at  Athens,  180 
Lysander,     Spartan     admiral,    168, 

168  ff.,  167 
Lysias,  on  Alcibiades.  2  f. ;  261 


Megacles,  111 

Metics,  264  f. 

Meton,  the  astrologer,  78,  188  f. 

Mina,  183,  268 

Mindarus,  Spartan  admiral,  161  f. 


Nepos,  the  Alcibiades  of,  32 
Nicias,  at  Pericles'  death,  12 ;  the 
name,  66 ;  his  family,  175 ;  Aris- 
totle's estimate  of,  66  f .  ;  general 
with  Pericles,  67,  224  f.  ;  head  of 
conservative  party,  177  ;  favored 
by  the  people,  67 ;  his  character, 
67  f . ;  dedicatory  offerings,  68 ; 
outlays  at  Delos,  69  f . ;  supersti- 
tion, 60,  96  ;  his  silver  mines,  60 ; 
his  slaves,  185 ;  in  the  Comic 
Poets,  61 ;  exclusiveness,  68  ;  safe 
generalship,  63  f.  ;  his  regard  for 
the  slain  in  battle,  64  f .  ;  resigns 
command  in  favor  of  Cleon,  66  ft. 
the  Peacemaker,  69  f.,  186; 
charged  with  buying  up  the  lot, 
70 ;  tricked  by  Alcibiades,  71  f., 
127  f .  ;  his  embassy  to  Sparta, 
78  f.  ;  rivalry  with  Alcibiades, 
78  f . ;  opposes  expedition  to  Sic- 
ily,   76  f . ;  188 ;  elected   general 


against  his  will,  76,  188  ;  his  plan, 
80 ;  his  disease,  86  ;  foils  the  Syra- 
cusans,  88;  .investment  of  Syra- 
cuse, 86 ;  his  straits,  86 ;  his 
overconfidence,  87 ;  his  dejection, 
88  ;  loses  Plemmyrium,  80 :  first 
naval  defeat,  91 ;  communications 
with  the  Syracusans,  87,  98  ;  fears 
the  Athenian  citizens,  96  ;  fatal 
delays,  97  f.;  tricked  by  Hermo- 
crates,  100 ;  in  retreat,  101  f .  ;  at 
the  river  Asinarus,  108  f .  ;  surren- 
der, 108  ;  his  death,  104  f .  ;  his 
shield,  106  ;  Thucydides' judgment 
of  him,  250  f. 


Obol,  183,  268 
Olympian  games,  270 
Orators, -as  historical  source,  2  f. 
Ostracism,   78  f.,  184,  207,  209  f., 
273 


Paches,  captor  of  Lesbos,  68 

Palladium,  68,  77 

Panactiim,  71,  186 

Parthian  disaster,  66 

Pasiphon,  of  Eretria,  11  f.,  36 

Patrae,  189 

Pericles,  in  Attic  Comedy,  2  ;  nature 
of  his  leadei-ship,  68 ;  fined,  68 ; 
cause  of  Peloponnesian  war,  70, 
186  ;  guardian  of  Alcibiades,  111, 
114 ;  advised  by  Alcibiades,  118 

Peripatetics,  35 

Persia,  re-entrance  into  Hellenic 
politics,  293  f. 

Phaeax,  76,  184  f . 

Phanodemus,  34 

Phamabazus,  160-166,  167,  293 

Philistus,  10  f.,  81,  66  f.,  89,  104  f. 

Philochorus,  34,  97 

Phoenician  fleet,  146,  149 

Phrygia,  Lesser  and  Greater,  826  f. 

Phrynichns,  the  Comic  Poet,  61, 187 

,  Athenian  general,  146  f . 


Plague,  at  Athens,  64 

Plato,  the  Comic  Poet,  76,  186 

,   the  Philosopher,   11  f.,  96, 

111,  116 
Plemmyrium,  90,  237 
Plynteria,  rites  of,  169 
Puyx,  197 

Pollichus,  the  Syracusan,  97  f . 
Polybius,  34 
Polyzelus,  estate  of,  108 
Protagoras,  96 
Pylos,  66  f. 


Quail,  of  Alcibiades,  181 


8 


Salaminia,  Athenian  state-galley,  189 

Samoa,  fidelity  to  Athens,  296 ; 
Athenian  army  at,  300  f. 

Scillus,  in  £Iis,  retreat  of  Xenophon,  9 

Selymbria,  164  f . 

Sicily,  Athenian  passion  for,  76, 
181  f . ;  Athenian  relations  with, 
212  ff. 

Socrates,  warns  Xenophon,  9 ;  op- 
poses the  Sicilian  expedition,  78, 
188 ;  victim  of  philosophy,  96 ; 
affection  for  Alcibiades,  111,  114  f., 

118  ;  at  Potidaea  and  Delium,  11, 

119  ;  influence  on  Critias  and  Al- 
cibiades, 262  f. 

Soothsayers,  97 

Sophocles,  the   poet,  general    with 

Nicias,  81 
Sphacteria,  66-67 
Stilbides,  a  soothsayer,  97 


Talent,  183,  268 

Taureas,  cuffed  by  Alcibiades,  180 

Telecleides,  the  Comic  Poet,  61 


Thapsus,  84 

Themistocles,  details  of  his  exile  in- 
fluence  the   story  of  Alcibiades, 
889  f. 
Theophrastus,  35,  76,  188 
Theopompus,  4,  10,  32,  167 
Theramenes,  4,  67,  166 
Thessalus,  son  of  Cimon,  184,  140 
Thousand,  The,  at  Argos,  188 
Thrasybulus,  son  of  Lycus,    148  f., 
320 

,  son  of  Thraso,  168 

Thrasyllus,  Athenian  general,  168  f. 
Thurii,  68 

Timaea,  wife  of  King  Agis,  corrupted 
by  Alcibiades,  148  f . ;  warns  Alcibi- 
ades, 295 
Timaeus,   of  Tauromenium,   33  f.  ; 
38  ;    66,   66 ;    on    Gylippus,    88, 
104,  236  ;  on  the  deaths  of  Nicias 
and  Demosthenes,  104  f . 
Timandra,  the  courtesan,  167  f.,  226 
Timon,  the  Misanthrope,  181 
Tissaphemes,  the  Satrap,  142-161 
Thucydides,  son  of  Melesias,  67,  76 

,  son  of  Olorus,    4  ff.  ; 

66  f. ;  cited,  60,  88,  91,  106, 117, 
188,184 
Tisias,  defrauded  by  Alcibiades,  183 
Tragedy,     Athenian,    as    historical 

source,  1  ff. 
Trierarch,  180,  267 
Tutor,  111,  259 
Twelve  Gods,  altar  of,  77 


Xenarchus  (?),  66 

Xenophon,  son  of  Euripides,  Athe^ 

nian  general,  64 
,  the  historian,  8  ff.,  167 


Zopyrus,  tutor  of  Alcibiades,  111 


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